Hearts in the Stars
by HiroJiyuNaka
Summary: Worlds collide, as they often do. A World cries out in help, bright Hearts in danger of being snuffed out. Is there even time for training, or is the war already here? Follow the two heroes, the two Chosen Ones, as they each must come into their own. The Worlds have designated several new Lights... Is the Balance shifting, or is it something else...?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello! Initiate first-chapter rant! It's a doozy, look out!**

My PS2 is busted. Been busted for a long time, but I forgot. Wanted to play Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 again, and tried to turn on the system. When I suddenly realized (and remembered) that I couldn't, I held back my manly tears at being kept from my favorite video game series, grabbed a couple jars of cashews, made a gallon of Gatorade, and proceeded to watch other people play the game on Youtube. Taking particular joy in the KH1 and 2 openings, as I'm sure the rest of you do whenever you start a new game on them. XD

It wasn't satisfying in the least. Seriously, why does it always feel as though you could do so much better at the game than they can? I don't know, human nature, I guess. Kind of like when you're watching a movie and the actor didn't quite do absolutely brilliantly, and the guy next to you always says, "Hmph. I could do better."

Anyway, I've come up with this story. I've been wanting to write something about Kingdom Hearts for a long-ass time, but I could never get a good, solid idea running. Usually it was just one fight scene, or a single lemon, or, hell, a conversation between two faceless characters that explained one of the yet-unexplained things in the story. Alone, none of them were a story, and I could never find a way to bring them all together.

Until now.

Surely by now you're all wondering where Naruto comes into this, and I'm about to tell you. I was rewatching some parts of it for another story, and I got to the point in the original Japanese dub that the opening changed to YURA YURA by Hearts Grow. When it came on, I imagined an even cooler version of what was happening in the opening video: Flashes of a fight interspaced by images of friends and everyday life in the Naruto world. When the opening changed again to The Far Far Cry by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, the vision came back, only stronger, and I actually missed the whole first half of the episode just fantasizing. Only this time, Naruto had a Keyblade. A while into the daydream, my mind seemed to realize what was happening, and took a bit more control over the vision. Scenes changed between following Naruto to following Sora, and back again. Over and over, little snips of conversations, of events, of battles played out in my mind. Finally, when Sora and friends encounter Naruto on a familiar dirt road on Naruto's world, the vision ended, and I quickly started writing notes!

This story is the brainchild of, honestly, the opening songs/videos of Naruto and Kingdom Hearts. The events of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance haven't happened yet, but I have plans for it, don't you worry!

Fact is, this one will be slow, but big updates. As popular and good as a lot of my stories are (or so I've been told, hehe!), they lack a sort of... muchness. For one thing, they rarely, if ever, change from the main character's viewpoint, and it's not used as an important device. Also, fight scenes, as well as I try to write them, are few and far between, and are actually quite short to be honest.

That's going to be different with this story. I've got a surprisingly well planned-out plot here, although at the time of writing I still have no title. =.= The perspective will be changing a lot, but hopefully not enough to cause confusion. There will be many short fight scenes involving everything from bandits to Heartless and Nobodies, and anything else I feel needs to be there. The bigger scenes, bosses both mini and grand, and anything deemed as important will get much more attention to detail, and I'll try to drag them out as realistically and satisfyingly as possible.

Oh! And just in case I somehow don't make it clear below, the timelines for both worlds are as thus: Narutoverse: The end of Pain. Naruto is being welcomed back by the village. Kingdom Hearts multiverse: Sora has just gotten the letter from King Mickey on Destiny Islands after the events of KH2.

As is often the problem with writing fanfics for video games, you can expect some complicated explanations to some of the game elements, as well as some hazy ones. Sorry, but them's the breaks. I'll do my best, of course!

All that said, for those who have stuck through this rant, please enjoy my endeavor to make an epic tale suitable for the feature box, if this site had one, that is! XD

Never had a need for this, but just this once, I'll do it. I use about every combination in this, after all.  
Legend:  
"Speech" - Normal format double-quotes  
 _'Thoughts'_ \- Italic single-quotes and text _  
_ **"Demonic Speech"** \- Bold double-quotes and text **  
** _ **'Demonic Thoughts'**_ \- Bold, italic single-quotes and text **  
** _Emphasis_ \- Italic text **  
THUD** \- Bold text, onomatopoeia  
 **Location;  
Timeframe; ** \- Bold, underlined scene/character change indicators. **  
Character:**  
Mysterious Voice \- Underlined Narration/voice-in-your-head from dark/light creatures  
 _Memory_ \- Underlined, italic Memory/Vision/Story

Enjoy~

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the Kingdom Hearts series, or any worlds/characters created by Disney or Square Enix. INSERT OBLIGATORY JOKE HERE.**

 **(~HJN~)**

From the Darkness arose a Flame.  
Into the Light stepped a Shadow.  
And through it all, a Voice called for help. _ **  
**_

 **The Kids' Island,  
Destiny Islands;  
Just After Kingdom Hearts 2;  
Sora:**

Sora sat on the paopu tree, bottle and message in hand. The sun was setting, and he watched as it went down. The message from King Mickey had, undoubtedly, caused some mood swings in the young boy. At first, he had been excited; a new adventure waiting for him, people he could help! But then his mood had soured. He'd have to leave the Islands, again. Probably leave Kairi behind, too.

Kairi... She had seemed excited by the message at first, too, and happy for Sora. But like him, she began to take to staring off into space, looking troubled. Riku seemed to be the only one acting normal, although 'normal' for him kinda _was_ staring at nothing and looking troubled, so perhaps he wasn't the best reference.

Donald and Goofy were ecstatic, of course! They had immediately gotten to work on the Gummi ship, making sure it was ready to fly wherever they wanted. Donald had grumbled something along the lines of 'Don't remember it being this hard' when one of the Fire/G-class Weapon Gummis had blown up. Goofy said something similar, but it was preceded by 'Been a while, huh?'. It was true, almost as soon as he had entered the cockpit, Sora had taken a keen interest in the little blocks, and had been largely the one to modify and build their ship over the course of their adventures.

Sora sighed, everyone seemed to expect him to take charge and fly out there, Keyblade flashing, and save the day! While he would admit that that sounded pretty cool, and totally like something he would do, the young Master couldn't shake the feeling that it wouldn't be as simple, this time.

' _Ha!'_ he thought, _'As if it was ever simple. Still, it's not just everyone here. I'm needed out there._

' _Isn't that an empowering thought, though? The whole Universe needs the help of a sixteen-year-old boy and his friends!'_

Ah, yes. He reminded himself again that he was indeed sixteen, now. Kairi had so eagerly informed him of that not two days after their defeat of Xemnas and subsequent return to the Islands. She had insisted on a positively enormous party, celebrating both his graduation into adulthood by the local laws, and also the saving of the Universe twice over, since he wasn't home to celebrate the first time!

The party was somewhat dampened by the fact that only her, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphine showed up. The rest of their hometown seemed to still be having trouble remembering who he was, even his mom. That had managed to break him down somewhat, and his friends had comforted him the whole night. The only 'celebrating' was the cake Kairi had attempted to bake, and the beer Wakka had managed to get his hands on. Selphine was out like a light after a few sips, which ensured her a permanent spot as the baby of the group in all of their eyes.

That was three days ago, and Sora laughed at the sentiment. Emerging into adulthood, what did that get him here? A chance to win the lottery, and the ability to drive a car. After having dealt with the simple system of Munny for so long, he had some serious trouble adjusting back to the local currency. And a car? After flying the Gummi ship into hordes of Space Heartless and Void Nobodies through corridors of darkness, driving a car around the suburbs just didn't seem that exciting for him. Besides, he preferred a skateboard.

' _Let's face it. This isn't my world anymore. I belong out there.'_

So lost in thought was he, that Sora nearly jumped when he heard Riku say his name. Looking over his shoulder, he smiled and called his name in return, not sure what to say.

Riku stood next to the paopu tree, staring into the sunset with Sora. "So," he began, "You've made up your mind?"

Sora looked down at the letter in his hand and nodded. "Yeah," he said simply.

A moment later, Sora found his name being called again, except this time by a much more beautiful voice.

He turned to look at her, trying to keep his heart from breaking. "Kairi! I.." He hopped off the tree and started walking up to her. "I have to go. They need my help, and... I wouldn't be me if it weren't for them!"

Kairi smiled, a small sadness present in the curve of her lips. "I understand. Here."

Sora looked down at his hand. Kairi lifted it and placed her good luck charm into his palm. The charm that had kept him coming back to her every time. He smiled; she had drawn a crude image of his face and hair on one point of the star.

It was such a familiar item. In fact, it was reminding him of something else... What was it, what was so familiar about it? He had held it in his hands a hundred times before, but there was something else. Something...

 _He looked over at Terra, wondering what he was thinking._

Sora blinked in confusion. He didn't remember anything like that ever happening, so why did he have a memory of it?

 _Holding the charm Aqua had given him, he said, "Wha- So it's not really a good luck charm?!"_

" _Well," she said. "I did do a bit of magic on it.."_

Sora shook his head to clear the images. He smiled at his friends and opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by a loud engine noise. They all turned and watched as the Gummi ship lifted off out of the trees and did a circuit around the island before landing on the beach. Sora grinned at the other two before running across the bridge and hopping down onto the sand, Riku and Kairi hot on his heels.

When he reached the large ship, he stopped and stared, open-mouthed.

Donald and Goofy clambered out of the cockpit and jumped onto the beach, smiling brilliantly. "So? What do you think?" Donald asked, puffing out his chest.

Sora began walking around the garage-sized ship, taking in every detail. "It's... It's... What the hell is this?!"

Donald flopped backwards, but quickly regained his footing. "What are you talking about? It's the Gummi ship!"

Sora rounded on the duck, picking him up and shaking him. "It's the Kingdom model! What happened, where are my modifications, my designs!? What did you do to her?!"

Donald gibbered and groaned as Sora shook him, eventually getting dizzy and lolling his head about.

Goofy stepped forward. "Uh, well, uh, y'see... Destiny Islands is a lot farther away than we've ever gone. When it became obvious that you and Riku had beaten Xemnas, we flew Kairi all the way here to wait for ya!"

Sora dropped Donald unceremoniously onto the ground and looked at Goofy. "I know all that, but why did you guys have to revert the ship back to Master Yen Sid's Kingdom model?"

Donald noisily shook his head to clear it. "Because we burned out the thrusters getting here! When we say we're far away, we mean from anything! You guys are in empty space, Sora, even the warp drive barely moved us compared to the distance we had to go!"

Sora nodded, finally getting the picture. "And so in order to fix the thrusters, you had to scavenge parts from everything else. I get it." Something dawned on him, however, and he suddenly got worried. "But wait a minute. If the Keeper Mark 5 barely got you here, how is the base Kingdom model going to get us out?!"

Donald smiled and waggled his finger at Sora. "You aren't the only clever one when it comes to Gummi blocks!"

Riku laughed. "Sora? Clever? From what I hear, he crashed the ship the first time he tried to land it! Not to mention the way he handles computers is appalling."

Sora crossed his arms indignantly. "That was before I took figured out how it worked! Turns out, I'm a pretty good mechanic!" he said, jabbing a thumb into his chest proudly. "And that computer thing is totally something else! The ship's computer makes way more sense!"

Goofy patted one of the thrusters. "Go on Sora! Check out what we did!"

Sora walked over to the left Vernier/G and ran his finger in an arc along the inside. A hemispheric outline lit up, splitting the center of the block in half. The core of the thruster popped out, and Sora sat in the sand, putting it in his lap. Behind the grey exterior was a mass of blue plastic-like material, filled with circuitry and, interestingly enough, clockwork!

Riku and Kairi stared, shocked, as Sora deftly opened the blue block, the fours sides spreading like a flower. His fingers glided over the insides, and his smile steadily grew larger. "Oh this is just too cool! You guys actually folded a Neon Bar/G in here, and I'm seeing parts from Booster/G, Bridge/G, and- is that a Gravira/G?" He looked up at his companions, impressed. "You recycled half of our supply to fix a couple of Vernier/Gs, and used most of the rest to make them strong enough to get us out of here?"

"Uh-huh! But we're still having trouble with the power. There's just not enough magic on this world to fill the batteries! We've topped off at 46%, and we used 88% from the closest world to here!"

Sora frowned and closed the engine core, plugging it back into the Vernier/G. "Give me a couple days with her. She'll be ready."

Donald reached into his pocket and pulled out a green cube. "Here. It's the Gummi Garage. I don't know what you think you're going to do, but good luck Sora!"

 **~(Hearts)~  
~(Hearts)~**

 **Konoha Ruins, The Land of Fire,  
The Elemental Nations;  
Hero's Return;  
Uzumaki Naruto:**

Naruto was speechless as a chorus of 'Thank you' and 'You're a hero' reached his ears. As Kakashi wisely stepped aside, he was suddenly flooded by bodies as well as praise!

Sakura pushed through the crowd and popped him on the head, calling him reckless. She then proceeded to hug him, and whisper, "Thank you."

Naruto looked out at the massive crowd. Every single face was beaming at him in thanks and admiration, and he didn't know what to say. All he wanted to do was curl up and fall asleep.

He allowed his hands to be shaken many times over as the lost himself in his thoughts. The Yondaime was his dad. The Yondaime was his dad!

He had almost given in to Kyuubi. He had never felt such rage, such pure, unfettered power. _'Hinata...'_

He suddenly very much wanted to see her. His mind just couldn't cope with the fact that all that had just happened- that _this_ was happening! He needed to know that his friend was still alive. Naruto started moving on his own, trying to see her in the crowd. Her name had started tumbling out of his mouth as he pushed his way through the crowd, looking for her.

It would be a while before he would give up. Eventually Sakura and Shizune came to their senses and got the boy away from the crowds. He had just fought off the leader of the Akatsuki, the teen was tired!

With a yawn, he allowed himself to be brought into a tent and laid on a cot. Somebody left to get him some food, but he had already fallen asleep.

Unfortunately, unlike most of his experience with sleep, he did not dream.

 **~(Hearts)~  
~(Hearts)~**

 **Seal Room, Naruto's Mindscape;  
After Pain;  
Uzumaki Naruto:**

Naruto looked up at the familiar cage doors, waiting. The fox would tell him why he was here eventually, and Naruto just might get to see him all irritated if he stayed silent long enough. That was always fun!

Large red eyes emerged from the darkness and watched him. **"Even with that chakra you learned from the Toads, you're still so oblivious."**

' _Okay, wasn't expecting that...'_ Naruto thought, quirking an eyebrow.

" **You could track the chakra signal from Pain's chakra rod all the way back to its source, but you couldn't feel the world crying out for help."**

Naruto's expression only grew more confused.

The cage suddenly lit up, and the entire fox in all its fuzzy, demonic glory could be seen. He was laying down, resting his chin on his paws, staring at him with an expression that Naruto couldn't quite place. **"Every last one of you is going to die, and you don't even know it. Can't do much about it, either. The darkness will come, and swallow us all."**

Naruto decided to speak up, finally getting irritated. "Stop speaking in riddles! What are you talking about? Why am I here, instead of dreaming about ramen or something?"

The Kyuubi's eyes softened slightly, and Naruto finally realized the face he was making. The Kyuubi was sad. Sad and... regretful? **"I'm sorry, Naruto. Even I didn't feel it until now. If there is one thing in this world that I fear, it is not death. It is living without life."** The fox looked up at him and hardened his expression. **"We're all going to be taken. And there is nothing you can do about it. Yet I know you will not believe me, and so I'm taking this memory with me. I was a fool for even thinking that you could help."**

Before Naruto could get a word in edgewise, the Kyuubi showed a remarkable strength behind those bars and expelled him from the dream, taking the memory of their conversation with him.

 **~(Hearts)~  
~(Hearts)~**

 **Konoha Ruins, The Land of Fire,  
The Elemental Nations;  
The Day After Pain;  
Uzumaki Naruto:**

The blonde awoke from a very strange dream. It was full of shadows, creatures in white, stained glass floors, and a strange voice. He shook it off and jumped up, ready for the day. His clothes were still filthy, and he wondered if his apartment had been destroyed. Pain's Shinra Tensei had made a crater in the center half of the village, but his assault before Naruto had showed up had already caused a lot of damage to the rest of the buildings.

Naruto walked out of the tent and stretched. He smiled and looked around. Construction was already getting underway. The earth at the edges of the crater was being pulled into the hole in an effort to fill it up, and the rocks all over the battlefield were being broken apart. Naruto felt within himself and sensed his chakra. He had used a lot yesterday, but he figured a few dozen Kage Bunshin could help the village.

With orders to spread out and help wherever they could, Naruto psyched himself up and set out, ready to do his part as well.

Getting directions to the tent Tsunade was in, he made to enter when Shizune popped out and put a firm hand on his chest. "Tsunade-sama can't see anyone right now. She's still in a terribly weak state from her battle."

Naruto's eyebrows shot upward. "Wh- Is she okay?!"

Shizune smiled reassuringly at him, trying to calm the boy down. "She'll be fine, she just needs rest. She's in a coma at the moment, and when she wakes up she'll be very weak. Please Naruto, go talk to one of the Jonin giving out assignments. We're still taking missions, you know. Can't let the other villages think that we're in a weak state."

Naruto nodded, upset that he couldn't see Tsunade, but respecting her assistant's orders. Wishing Shizune luck with her day, he went out to find some work to do.

 **~(Hearts)~  
~(Hearts)~**

 **One Hour Later;  
Uzumaki Naruto:**

Naruto sat on a stack of logs. He had managed to find one Jonin with a Soldier Pill, and he quickly convinced the man to give it to him.

Renewed with a bit of chakra, he had sent out five hundred-odd clones to assist and do missions, trying to bring in funds for the destroyed village, and focused his own efforts on regaining his strength. Hence the meditation on top of the logs.

It wasn't long before he felt up to drawing in Nature energy. Balancing his chakra, he activated Sage Mode, although he still didn't move from his spot.

In Sage Mode, he could sense chakra, and other types of energy. At the moment, he was looking for someone. Finding her signature, he opened his eyes, revealing their resemblance to a toad's, and set off in a direction. All around him he saw shinobi, civilians, and copies of himself rebuilding the village. It was quite amazing, really. The speed with which everything was getting done put a spring in his step.

People bowed to him and thanked him as he walked, but he just smiled and waved them off. Konoha was his home, and he would do anything to protect it.

When he reached the chakra signature he was tracking in the untouched area of the village, he let go of his Sage energy. Entering the BBQ Grill, he looked around and finally found her. Walking up, he put on a brilliant smile and said, "Hey Kiba, Shino, Kurenai-san. Hey Hinata, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Team 8 looked up from their meal and grinned at Naruto. Well, Kiba grinned, and Kurenai seemed to smile. Hinata looked almost fearful, and most definitely embarrassed. "W-what do you need me for, N-Naruto-kun?" _'Oh no, he's here to tell me to give up on him! I was so weak when I went to help him, a strong guy like him must hate weak girls!'_ she panicked.

Naruto smiled gently. "I just wanted discuss some stuff with you about yesterday." _'Oh man, she looks terrified of me! I must have looked so fuckin' scary when the Kyuubi took over, she probably hates me! She's the only one in our class that didn't know, yet...'_

Hinata nervously stood up and turned to her team. "E-excuse me, please." Looking at Naruto, she nodded, trying not to look sad.

He took her outside and around an alley. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. They both stood there, not looking at each other. Finally, they turned to each other at the same time and shouted, "Please don't hate me!"

They each blinked at each other, confused. Again, at the same time, they said, "Why would I hate you?"

Hinata answered first, though. "Because I was so useless when I went to help you! I-I thought you were mad at me for being so w-weak... A-and for... W-well, y-you know," she finished lamely, referring to her confession and looking at the ground.

Naruto gaped at her, amazed. "How- I don't even.." He reached out and gripped her arms, startling her into looking into his eyes. "Hinata," he said firmly, "I could never hate someone for trying to help me, least of all you! You were no match for Pain, I tried telling you that, but you fought him anyway to protect me! Hinata, I don't hate you, I'm thankful to you!" When he finished, he pulled her into a hug, wiping away her fears, and doubling her embarrassment.

Of course, that was when Naruto remembered why he had come to find her in the first place. Pulling away from the hug, he half turned away from her, worried. "So... You _don't_ hate me?"

Hinata looked straight at him, highly confused. "I'm not even sure what you're talking about, Naruto-kun."

Naruto shook his head and took a few steps away from her, turning away. "I mean how I... I did something scary, Hinata. Listen... I'm pretty sure you're the only graduate in our class that doesn't know yet, as everyone else found out one way or another. I'm... I'm the bearer of the nine-tailed Bijuu. I'm the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune." He paused, and when he didn't hear her scream or run away, he let the next part rush out in a hurry. "When I saw what he did to you, I lost control, and the Kyuubi was almost completely set free! I just couldn't stand seeing you like that, especially since you came to my rescue, you know?! You're really important to me, Hina-"

"Naruto-kun."

Naruto turned around at the softness in her voice. He was saddened at first when he saw the tears, but her bright smile confused him. His confusion increased when she threw herself into his arms and held him tightly. He blinked rapidly before cautiously returning the hug. "Uhm, Hinata?"

"I'm glad you're okay. Like everyone, I'm thankful that you defeated Pain and saved us. And..." She seemed to bury her head into his chest, her face heating up. "It makes me happy that you think so highly of me to get so mad."

He smiled, hugging her more tightly. "Of course, Hinata-chan. After all the stuff we've been through, you really think that I'd just sit by and watch you get killed?"

Hinata sighed into the hug. _'His arms are so strong... I feel so protected,"_ she thought. Ever since her confession, the thought of being with Naruto like this made her even happier, and others had noticed a rapid increase in her own confidence.

Hinata thought about that moment. He hadn't responded to her since then. She blushed a bit harder, pointing her head at the ground. "N-Naruto-kun? What about... t-that other part?"

Naruto quirked up an eyebrow. "What other part?"

Hinata pulled away, poking her fingers together. "The part where I.. I... I... Naruto?" she asked, sounding confused now. "Why do you have two shadows?"

Naruto looked down and widened his eyes. There below him was his shadow, same as it always had been. But shooting off to the side was another shadow, connected to him by his feet. "W-what the-?!" He hopped away, and the shadow seemed to... _rip_ away from him. He looked around and chuckled nervously. "Shikamaru? If that's you, you've had your fun! You know I hate ghosts, and that really scared me!"

No answer.

"Sh-Shikamaru?" His eyes were drawn to the shadow on the ground. "Oh Kami..."

Hinata latched onto him, and he instinctively wrapped her in his arms. "N-Na-Naruto-kun. W-what is that?"

Naruto didn't answer, just shook his head. No way. It had only been a dream, hadn't it? "Oh please, no."

The shadow was moving.

 **~(Hearts)~  
~(Hearts)~**

 **The Kids' Island,  
Destiny Islands;  
The Next Day;  
Sora:**

Sora manipulated the engine back into place. That was one down, but he was down to one Neon Orb. He'd have to work something else out for the second one.

He was torn from his thoughts at the sound of footsteps on the sand. He looked up and smiled at Kairi. "Hey!"

"Hey. Hungry yet?" she asked, lifting a picnic basket. Sora opened his mouth, but his stomach answered faster, growling impatiently. Kairi giggled. "I guess so! Here, I made your favorite."

Sora saved his current template and put the Gummi Garage on Stasis Mode, letting him remove the Editor Gloves without dropping the multitude of parts hovering in the air. He scooted closer to Kairi as she passed him a peanut butter, jelly, and pickle sandwich.

As they ate on the docks, just staring at the ocean, Sora's mind kept wandering between Kairi and the ship. _'I'll come back. I always come back to her. She knows that, I know that, so why am I feeling so torn about this? They need me out there! Kairi doesn't need me, she's got a life here on the Islands._

' _Damn, what am I gonna do for that other Vernier? I guess I could pull apart the Helm a bit.. If I use a Bridge or Big Bridge, I can pull the lower-energy parts from our leftover Helms, but that won't look very good on the Kingdom model. Not like that matters any, we're stuck here unless I can get us to the nearest world with magic. Man, I had no idea how far we were from anything. Riku's first ride in a Gummi Ship, and we'll be flying for hours!_

' _Kairi's already been through the trip, though. Hey...'_

He looked at her, and said, "Hey Kairi?"

She turned to look at him, smiling. "Hm? What is it?"

"What did you think of your first flight in the Gummi Ship?"

She looked surprised, but thoughtful. "Well, that was a few years ago, remember? Hollow Bastion? Leon and the others took me to Traverse Town after you... well after you rescued me," she said, her cheeks coloring slightly.

"Oh. Right.. I forgot." Sora put his head down, remembering his brief time as a Heartless, which gave birth to Roxas. Although, he wasn't quite a true Heartless, was he? He still had some semblance of himself, for some reason... He wondered if it was the Keyblade that had saved him, as it had so many times before and since then. Shaking himself free of the memories, he smiled at her, "Well, what I meant was this time. From Organization XIII's world to here."

Kairi looked out at the ocean. "Well, first Donald did this thing on the ship to find this world, he said it was a... a Heart Monitor?"

Sora nodded in understanding. He had learned about it after his first visit to Hollow Bastion, and how the Beast had followed Belle through Corridors of Darkness and Light. "The Heart Tracker. It reads your heart and finds your home, by detecting where you were born."

"Right, that! Well, it seemed confused, because the first couple times it kept pointing to Hollow Bastion-"

"Radiant Gardens."

Kairi blinked. "What?"

Sora chuckled. "The town's original name was Radiant Gardens. Leon and the others are rebuilding it, and they've brought back the old name."

"Oh good for them! Anyway, when I told Donald that Destiny Islands wasn't my first home, he started asking all kinds of questions, wondering how I got here with the world dividers still up. Well I didn't know! I was like, five when I came here, right? Goofy calmed him down, and Donald adjusted the Tracker thingy. Finally it pointed here, and Donald started getting mad at _me_ for how far away it was!"

Forget chuckle, Sora laughed uproariously! "Hahaha! Yeah, he can be a bit cranky, but he's really a nice guy. So, what happened next?"

"Well, according to the space map-"

"World Map."

"Oh whatever! Would you let me tell the story?"

Sora backed off, raising his hands apologetically, although the grin on his face showed how funny he thought her flustering was.

"Hmph. Well, the World Map said that the closest place was this colosseum or something. We landed and Goofy started working on the ship, trying to re-fuel, or something. Hercules says hi, by the way, and that he wants a rematch soon. What's that about?"

"Oh, bring it on, Herc! He's this Olympian demigod hero with god-like strength that I trained with for a while. How's Phil? Is the Colosseum rebuilt and open yet?"

Kairi giggled at his exuberance. Sora felt his heart skip a beat at the sound. "They're all doing well, and it seemed to be open. Once the ship was ready, we left, though. The trip here from the colosseum was about six hours, and pretty uneventful."

Sora nodded, thinking aloud. "If Donald plotted the flight with the ship's starmap, I should be able to retrieve it from the logs."

Getting up, he bent down and tapped a few times on the holographic keyboard hovering over the little blue cube that was the Gummi Garage Field Projector. The log for the last flight came up, as well as the last known accurate World Map.

Sora stood and examined them. He crossed his arms and pinched his chin in a thinking pose. "Hmm... No.. Did he really...?"

Kairi stood as well and walked right up next to him, their shoulders touching. "What? Is there something wrong?"

Sora frowned, nodding. "I'll say. Those two knuckleheads burned out the engines for no reason! They must have been bookin' it to get back here, because _my_ ship would have made it, no problem, if they had taken it slower!"

Sora looked at the ship, deep in thought. "If I use a Big Bridge, I can dismantle the casing for the Bridge/Gs we have and use it to make whole new engines out of the Verniers. That way, I can take the parts from all the other cockpits and rig them into the new engines, which should get us where we want to go. It's no Falcon Peak, but she'll do as long as I'm flying."

Kairi smiled softly. "That's great, Sora! So after that, will it be ready to go?"

Sora frowned again. "No. There's still the problem of fuel. It runs on ambient magic, the kind that hasn't been directed into forming anything. The magic inside people is geared towards being expelled in different ways, like a spell, as well as siphoning a bit of itself off to keep us alive. Well, according to what Merlin taught me, anyway. But the magic of a world is loose and free. It can be harnessed and molded by the Gummi Ship as fuel, and every time we stop at a world, it begins its refueling process. Unfortunately, Destiny Islands doesn't have enough ambient magic to spare, and so the Gummi Ship is really low on fuel."

Kairi looked around at the beach and the forest. "Hard to believe this beautiful place has such little magic to it."

Sora smiled, enjoying the smell of the sea. "It has enough to keep the world from falling apart, and the Gummi Ship won't take more than it safely can. I think the fact that it _is_ so beautiful without much magic is amazing. We live on a unique world, Kairi."

Sora grinned, and asked, "Speaking of magic, how is Riku's 'class' coming along?"

"Well, Selphine and Wakka seem to have gotten the gist of it. Tidus is having a lot more trouble, though. His last spell burned off Riku's eyebrows!"

Sora laughed, imagining the guy's hairless face. "So, he's improving, then?"

Kairi tried to keep the smile off her face, but eventually giggled with him. "Hehe, yep!"

They shared a laugh for a while longer before Kairi noticed that it was getting dark. "I should probably get home."

Sora sobered immediately. With his mom still not remembering him, he had been staying in the hideaway in the big tree in the middle of the island, no home to return to. It wasn't the conditions or the cold, he had slept through worse with Mulan under Captain Shang. No, it was the loneliness. Donald and Goofy were great company, but they slept in the Hidden Place by the door, guarding it.

They had long since determined that it was the door to the Heart of the World, hence the reason Riku was teaching their other friends magic. Somebody had to defend it, since without a Keyhole, it was impossible to lock. Riku had been pushed to imbuing their chosen weapons with magic and teaching them a few spells, since they otherwise wouldn't be able to harm anything that came at them.

' _Still,'_ Sora thought, _'It's so strange sleeping alone after all this time.'_

Kairi started to unhitch her boat, not looking at him. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sora."

He sighed as she paddled away, back to town. He slipped the Editor's Gloves back on and summoned a Bridge from the Garage, getting back to work. It would still be light for a while longer.

 **~(Hearts)~  
~(Hearts)~**

 **The Next Day;  
Sora:**

Sitting cross-legged on the bridge to the raised platform, Sora looked at them as they sat in groups in front of him. What he was thinking was crazy, both Riku and Donald had told him such. But that dream stuck in his mind. It made so much sense, there had to be some truth to it. He had already resolved which ones wouldn't work, and which ones he refused to use. The only problem was actually putting his plan into action.

With the thought that he would ask King Mickey how they came about in the first place, he began to attempt to break a Keychain.

He started with one of the ones he knew wouldn't work for his final plan, the Gull Wing. It didn't boost his Magic at all, so he figured it wouldn't help the Gummi Ship. Plus, its ability, while somewhat useful to him, would not assist the Ship, either.

First he tried funneling a spell into it, Thunder. Besides a general show of electricity, no change occurred. Remembering his first adventure, he tried crushing it with a Gravity spell, but that seemed to have no effect either.

Getting frustrated, he tried pulling on the magic in it. He felt... something. He wasn't sure what, but it was like it was just there, out of his reach. Closing his eyes, he held the chain in his hand and focused. He could feel his Drive power reacting to his efforts, and tried using it to pull on the Keychain. Suddenly, a noticeable change occurred, and he was practically attacked by a wave of magic. Opening his eyes, he gasped.

The Keychain had lost much of its color, but that's not what made him jump up. His clothes had changed to that of his Wisdom Form. His feet were hovering above the bridge, and flecks of magic winked in and out around him, just like always! He felt a bit less powerful that he knew he should, but that wasn't a concern at the moment. "Uh, guys!" He yelled, leaving the rest of the Keychains behind and gliding to the door through the edge of the mountain. Pushing through it, he hopped from platform to platform easily, making his way to the east beach. Riku was there, teaching Tidus, Wakka, Selphine, and surprisingly, Kairi how to perform Thunder-element magic. Goofy was lounging under a tree, and Sora immediately sped over and kicked him gently to wake him up. "Goofy! Was Donald here? Did he just disappear?"

Goofy looked up at him, confused and surprised. "Sora! Yer clothes 're all blue like in yer Wisdom Form!"

"I know, I know! Where was Donald just now?"

Riku answered from behind him. "He went to the north beach, needed to use the bathroom there. Why, what's the panic?"

Sora whipped around, an interesting sight while floating. "I was doing an experiment and I went into Wisdom Form, normally I can only do that when Donald is with me, and he has to willingly join me. Besides the fact that I didn't mean to, he's way too far away for me to absorb him, I need to figure out what happened!"

"Uh, Sora? Why dontcha just revert? He'll show up here, won't he?"

"That's just it, I don't think he's with me right now!" Without another word, he glided around the border between the north beach and the east beach, the others trying to keep up. Reaching the bathroom shed, he pounded on the door, Gull Wing Keychain still in hand. "Donald! Donald, are you in there?!"

The door opened and the duck stepped out. "What, what, what is i-"

He stopped, frozen with one foot in the air. "Ah- Uh- Uh... WAAAAAHHHH!" He yelled, jumping back slightly. "WA- What happened?!"

Sora exhaled, relieved. At least Donald was okay. He opened his left hand, and looked at the Gull Wing Keychain. Holding out his right, the Keyblade appeared. It was in Kingdom Key form, all the other Keychains were still sitting on the bridge on the south beach. The Keychain was almost completely devoid of color, and everyone watched, wide-eyed, as Sora began to connect the Gull Wing to the Keyblade. The form changed into the Gull Wing, as expected, but it, too, was drained of color. The image shimmered, flickering to the Kingdom Key and back again, seemingly unstable.

Wakka spoke first. "Woah. Man, that's freaky."

Sora fiddled with the Keychain, frustrated. "It won't clip on right, almost like it's broken." Giving up, he removed the chain and dismissed the Keyblade, staring down at the Gull Wing. The red rope was grey, and the silver emblem had faded, having lost its shine. Closing his eyes, he still felt magic inside it, and pulled once more with his Drive. He could feel the time he had left in the Form rise in response. Cracks were beginning to form under his fingers, and he stopped.

Remembering why he was doing this in the first place, he began to try and store the magic outside himself, instead of letting it be directed to energizing him. Pulling again, he thought he had just about figured out how to do that when the Keychain shattered, and he felt the magic enter him. Snapping his eyes open, everyone gasped at the sight of the broken medal and the cut rope. He sensed, as he did sometimes when he grew stronger, that a new ability had surfaced within him. It was the exact same as what the Gull Wing form granted him when he used it in battle.

"Experience Boost..."

Goofy looked up into his face. "Hm? What was that Sora?"

Sora snapped free from his daze and quickly Reverted, a small flash of light returning his clothes to normal, and lowering his feet to the ground. "This was the Gull Wing Keychain, the one Yuna and the Gull Wing Fairies gave me. Its ability was Experience Boost. I think I just... absorbed it."

Kairi cocked her head. "Sora, what were you trying to do? And what's an ability?"

Not answering, his head snapped up and he looked back the way he had come. A Quick Run took him most of the way there, and he sprinted around the border, leaping up onto the trees, and leaping again. In the air, he Glided to the door, and burst through it. Running under the bridge, a quick Magnet spell pulled the Keychains into his hands, and he finally reached the Gummi Ship.

Stuffing the shattered Gullwing chain into his enchanted pockets, he pulled out the last Neon Orb and sifted through the Keychains, paying no mind to his friends running up to him. Pulling out the Hero's Crest Keychain, he figured that if it didn't work, the Gummi Ship wouldn't lose any potential magic, and he would get an immediate Air Combo Plus ability. Placing the chain on the docks, he rested the Neon Orb atop it, his friends watching with bated breath.

Placing his palm on the Orb, he focused again. Pulling on his Drive, he activated Wisdom Form, once more noticing that he didn't need Donald. He started trying to tug on the chain, and the Neon Orb easily intercepted the magic. He smiled, not feeling the power enter him, and finished the process. The Keychain broke, and he sensed its ability enter the Neon Orb.

Opening his eyes and Reverting, he lifted the Orb and turned to his audience. "And that is how I plan to solve the fuel issue. Plus, if my hunch is right, now the Ship will maneuver better."

Of course, they each demanded an explanation, which he was happy to give.

Answering Kairi first, he said, "An Ability is an enhancement. Sometimes artificial, they can become natural through training. When I woke up in Twilight Town, I gained an Ability called Aerial Recovery. It implanted in me the knowledge and ability to use wind to recover from a falling state. By now, if I remove the Ability Points invested in it, which I have done, I can still do it because I've learned how naturally. They're kind of like a shortcut, or a learning boost. Without knowing that it was possible or how to do it, which the ability gave me, I never would have tried it, let alone achieved it. But since I've had it active for so long, and I've used it so often, I've learned how to do it without the Ability."

Kairi nodded, starting to understand. "So... The one you broke by the bathroom had an ability for what, again?"

"Experience Boost. In essence, it increases the rate at which you learn, and it boosts your muscle memory, allowing you to train more effectively. It's one of the kind that can't become natural by training."

Riku took his turn as Kairi processed the information. "So you tried it anyway. How'd you manage it? Keychains are extremely durable, they nearly embody the essence of Will itself, and the magic they can contain is too variable to manage."

Sora dug out the Gull Wing Keychain. "Well, to start, I tested it on one with only enough magic to power itself. It doesn't boost my magic power any, so I had hoped that it would be weak enough to manage. Turns out it was! In my Wisdom form, at least."

Donald jumped in before Riku could say anything more. "And how'd you do that, Sora?! I wasn't anywhere near you, and you didn't even need me!"

Sora looked at his hands, thoughtful. "I... I don't know... Maybe I'm just getting stronger? Should I try another form?"

Kairi giggled. "I think that can wait 'till later, silly! So, have you fixed the ship?"

Sora frowned and put the broken Keychains aside, slipping on the Editor's Gloves. "I'm not sure. I doubt that particular Keychain had enough power for what we need..." Tapping on the Neon Orb, he pulled up statistics on the part. "Well, the power has increased, but not by much. It also holds the Air Combo Boost ability from the Hero's Crest Keychain. I can't be sure what it does for the ship until I enter it into the database, but I'll bet you 200 Munny that it increases either maneuverability or speed." Sora turned to look at them. "If I transfer enough power from the Keychains into the Neon Orb, it'll convert the magic into something the ship can use. I only have a basic understanding of how much magic each Keychain will transfer, so even this might not be enough.."

Sensing his friend about to enter a funk, and also still carrying questions, Riku spoke. "But that still doesn't answer how you even broke the chain. Your Wisdom Drive helped you to manage the magic into your system, but what gave you that idea?" _'I don't think he realizes just what a big discovery this is. Keychains are among the strongest of magical items there are, and he just broke two of them by barely trying.'_

"Well... it kind of happened for me. I tried to physically break it, but that didn't work. Even magic wouldn't snap the thing. Pulling on it though... I don't know, it was like my Drive sensed that it could, and just.. did it! I think Wisdom activated to handle the stress of adapting the power into me." He looked up at their dumbfounded faces. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Hehe, at least that's what I think happened..."

His friends chuckled at Sora's attitude. No matter how clever he got, he was still Sora!

It was almost sundown when Sora called another assembly. Once everyone was gathered, he smiled at them, even though he was very tired from his day. "Okay! After a surprisingly exhausting morning, I think that there is enough magic in this Neon Orb to get us off the Islands." This was met with some cheer and praise, to which he blushed and raised his hands. "Okay, okay! All afternoon, I've been working on adapting the ship's systems to the new power source, and I've finally finished. Now, for those wondering, these four engines aren't the old Fira/G thrusters. They're my own invention, and I think you'll find that they fly a lot smoother, haha! The cockpit is a Big Bridge/G, cause I had to use most of the other Helms to make the new engines."

He took a deep breath and looked at Donald, Riku, and Goofy. "Now, due to the modifications, we'll be flying a lot slower than we're used to. Sorry Riku, you'll have to wait for another time to witness my awesome piloting skills!"

Before he could retort, Goofy spoke up. "Uhh.. How slow are we talkin' about here, Sora?"

He sighed, exhausted. "It'll take us about three days to reach the Colosseum," he said. Before Donald could argue, he yelled, "Hey! We wouldn't even be in this mess if you two knuckleheads hadn't pushed the engines passed what they can do! You could have easily gotten here if you had taken it slower!" That quieted him down, and Sora continued. "Right. I've enabled the living quarters. I know, it's not the best thing ever, but that's all we can do about it.

"I still have to plug in the orb, and the conversion program will take some time. We can be ready to leave in two hours, bu-"

Riku interrupted him. "I still have one more thing to teach my class. Can we postpone the launch for tomorrow? I'd really hate to leave our world underprotected, this time."

Sora nodded. "I was about to say that I've been working all day for the past two days, and I'd like to sleep tonight, haha.. We should launch tomorrow night; since the ship is parked on land and not in orbit, we might startle the town if we do it in the day."

Everyone nodded, completely understanding the desire to sleep, as Sora looked about ready to collapse. The Islanders all took the boats back to town for the night, minus Sora, of course. Donald and Goofy went back to the Secret Place, and our hero headed to his lonely alcove up in the treehouse.

 **(~HJN~)**

 **AN:** Well! That was pretty long and guess what? It's not even everything I have! I had to cut it here because I really wanted some feedback and it was getting to be hella long. I've been sitting on this much and more for months, actually.

First off, I'm sure there are a lot of errors I missed, please excuse them. Also please keep in mind the timeframe I've put this in, and remember that I'm having to alter canon a lot!

Mostly I want feedback on Sora. I feel like I'm making him too smart or too talkative. But I always imagined that, since you're playing Sora, surely Sora is the one doing all of the Gummi Building and stuff, right? Naturally he'd end up being a good mechanic for this sort of thing if he's been doing it as much as I do. People can get really smart or passionate about something they're good at or enjoy, so I hope his personality is portrayed well enough. We hardly ever get to see HIM figuring out a solution to a problem, so I didn't have much to go on. Usually he's just being confrontational or confused, haha!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this secret I've been keeping from you, and let me know what you think of the title! I'm still not sure of it...

Ja ne~!

 **-Hero of the Free**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! So uh. Yeah. Some shit's goin' down pretty quick... But also pretty slow, so hopefully the pacing doesn't get too confusing. I'm essentially telling two stories at the same time right now... Anyway. I know that such long gaps between chapters means you kind of have to reread the last chapter and a half to remember the story, and I'm sorry for that. If it's any consolation, I have to do the same thing when I go to write a new chapter. Heck, I do the same thing whenever a new chapter for a story I'm following goes up- no matter how long it took! I just have a bad memory... No matter. It's here, now.**

 **Also YES. I KNOW. I forgot that King Mickey was on Destiny Islands too, when Sora and Riku used the Door to Light to escape the Realm of Darkness. A passing comment has been injected into this chapter to explain, and that's all we're fuckin getting. I've corrected too many mistakes in too many old-ass chapters this month to bother with that one when I can write it off like I've done below.**

Legend:  
"Speech" - Normal format double-quotes  
' _Thoughts'_ \- Italic single-quotes and text _  
_" **Demonic Speech"** \- Bold double-quotes and text **  
**' _ **Demonic Thoughts'**_ \- Bold, italic single-quotes and text **  
** _Emphasis_ \- Italic text **  
THUD** \- Bold text, onomatopoeia  
 **Location;  
Timeframe; ** \- Bold, underlined scene/character change indicators. **  
Character:**  
Mysterious Voice \- Underlined Narration/voice-in-your-head from dark/light creatures  
 _Memory_ \- Underlined, italic Memory/Vision/Story  
 _ **Rasengan**_ \- Bold, italic jutsu/technique/magic/power/effect

 **Enjoy~**

 **(~HJN~)**

 **Hokage Mansion, Konoha;  
Heartless Invasion, Hour 2;  
Shizune:**

"What's the status?" She stood, looking over a rough map of the current village layout. The dark creatures had come from nowhere, and they had seemed to spread to every corner of the village already.

The Chuunin behind her hurriedly gave his report. "The Hyuuga clan are keeping them away from key areas, but it's like an infestation out there! Many of them are able to just walk right past our defences, and more appear every few minutes! Capturing them doesn't last long, as they seem to be able to come and go as they please!"

She clenched her fist, thinking on what to do. "And the interrogation?"

He gulped. "The Yamanaka that entered one's mind is still in a coma."

"Dammit!" ' _Ino...'_

Shizune thought about the situation, trying to find a way to push the threat back. ' _They seem to just come out of shadows and take physical form at a whim. For every one we take out, two more take its place! Normal physical attacks just slide right through them, but apply any chakra and suddenly they're vulnerable. What kind of beings_ are _these?'_

She was brought out of her thoughts when the Chuunin continued reporting. "Ah, but their numbers have stopped growing! We're defeating them just fast enough to keep the tide even."

Shizune spun around, wide-eyed and hopeful. "What? How?! We've been losing ground since this started!"

The man before her, she believed his name was Higashi, very nearly blew her off her feet with his intel. "The Hero, Uzumaki Naruto-san, has been cutting through their numbers with his clones. I haven't seen it myself, but the reports I've collected say that he and some of his clones have been carrying some new weapon- some sort of uh.. giant key-shaped sword?"

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **Northern Sector, Konoha Crater;  
Heartless Invasion, Minute 1;  
Uzumaki Naruto:**

He pushed Hinata back, holding a kunai in his left hand out in front of him. "What the fuck is even going on anymore?! Why are these things here?"

Hinata poked her head out around Naruto's arm to see the creature and asked, "N-Naruto-kun? Wh-what is it..?"

Naruto grit his teeth. "I don't know. But I don't think they're friendly.. **!** "

Just as he said so, the creature leapt at them, sharp claws racing toward his chest. A swipe from his kunai simply passed right through, though it did serve to put his arm in the way of the attack. He hissed and flung his arm, this time knocking the beast back away from him. He looked down at his undamaged sleeve, incredulous. He could feel the pain- heck, he could feel himself bleeding- but it was like the shadowed assailant simply ignored his clothes and attacked him directly.

Somehow.

Naruto was feeling more lost by the second but didn't have time to think. Hinata shouted a warning and brushed by him, her arm lashing out like a viper, chakra coursing from her palm to strike the creature as it leapt up for another attack. For some reason, it worked out a lot better for her than it did him: the creature recoiled, though it made almost no sound to indicate pain. A thin black cloud emanated from it for a moment as it paused, watching them. Then, all of a sudden, its twitching form sunk into the ground- flattening and becoming nothing more than a shadow- before vanishing completely.

Naruto and Hinata stared at the ground, then whipped about and cast their gaze at every shadow, paranoid.

But for now, it seemed, they were alone again.

Naruto hesitantly put his kunai away, his mind racing. ' _Why, why is this happening? It.. It was just a dream! A dream!'_

"N-Naruto-kun?"

He broke from his thoughts and turned to look at Hinata, taking in her worried eyes.

"Sh-shouldn't we tell someone about this?"

Before he could even respond, a scream rang out from the main road, and Naruto raced out of the alley, hearing Hinata chase after him. Out in the street, they watched, shocked, as another strange creature- this one slightly larger, and seemingly wearing some type of armor but still containing those dead yellow eyes- shakily ran down the street after a civilian.

Before either could give chase, they heard the callout of a jutsu and looked up, a fireball just missing three winged beasts, each one appearing to wear bandanas and striped, haggard clothing. And again, the dead yellow eyes.

More screams cropped up all around them, from all over the village. Beside him, Hinata activated her bloodline and gasped, her hand flying to hold his jacket. "N-Naruto-kun! Th-the whole village- it's overrun!"

Another short armored one came out of a building, and Naruto snapped a kunai at it, the blade impacting the creature's chest. It flinched for a moment, and seemed to ponder the situation before pulling the kunai out and looking at it. It went perfectly still- a state Naruto somehow found more unsettling than watching it twitch- before twitching vigorously. Jumping into the air and performing a front flip, a dark aura encased it mid-jump, vanishing the creature before dispersing.

Naruto opened his mouth and made yet another confused noise, but then three more dark spheres appeared in the air where the armored one had disappeared, and poured out three new figures. Taller than the armored ones, these creatures had dark blue bandanas covering the lower half of their heads, glowing yellow eyes peering out from over them. The attire was a typical Chuunin uniform, albeit in blacks and dark blues. They all wielded a pure black kunai in their right hand, and had a shinobi headband with an unfamiliar symbol: a heart whose bottom half morphed into a cross, red inside with a black outline and a black X shape in the center.

Each one of them threw their kunai at him, which he deflected with one of his own. Incredibly, through no effort of his own, each kunai flew straight back at it's owner, striking them in the chest before bursting into black smoke, causing the newcomers to flinch before... _conjuring_ new kunai from the air.

Naruto shook his head, eyes wide. "This.. this is insane..."

Hinata, seeing these ones were more susceptible to kunai, threw three of her own at them. Unfortunately, her kunai simply passed right through them, the creatures not even reacting.

Naruto growled. "Grr, what is going ON?! You fuckers aren't real! You're a dream- A DREAM!"

He sprinted at them, drawing a kunai and intending to slash at the nearest one. It absorbed the attack, and once again Naruto was cut without his clothes even coming into the equation. Like the first creature's attack, it already began healing up, but the fact that he couldn't fight these things stung more. Backstepping another slash, he put his fingers in a familiar cross formation, summoning a clone to help him form a _**Rasengan**_.

Driving the orb at the beast, he was utterly surprised when it blew the creature back, dispersing in midair into black smoke and dust.

Everyone- invaders, Naruto, Hinata- halted in shock. Hinata reacted first, reapplying her _**Byakugan**_ and entering her Gentle Step stance. "They're weak to chakra, normal attacks just pass right through!"

Naruto grinned; a big part of his irritation being wiped away. "Alright then, if chakra is what does it, then chakra it is!" Another handsign, and he called out, " _ **Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**_!"

And the street filled with smoke.

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **Western Sector, Konoha Crater;  
Heartless Invasion, Hour 1, Minute 45;  
Yamanaka Ino:**

Ino remembered only casting the jutsu on one of the big, fat ones that continually deflected any attack- chakra-based or no- from the front. After that, it was only darkness. She had a brief insight of the creature's intentions: it sought to find something, and to collect something else, similar but smaller. Judging by what civilians and few shinobi had been taken down by the hordes of invaders, Ino guessed that the smaller something was lives. It was clear that, if one of the monsters latched onto you when you were knocked unconscious- or worse- there was no hope for you. It would take... _something_ from you, something bright, something vital. Some reports said it was somewhat heart-shaped, and many believed it to be the victim's soul, but the only hard facts were that no amount of healing could revive them. The victims remained living for some time after the _something_ being taken, but they would eventually die, regardless of a medic's efforts.

And if the victim did not get freed from the creature that took them down? The body would be dispersed into black smoke and dust- so similar to the way the creatures themselves seemed to die. Indeed, even some of the older dead that were recovered and kept alive as long as possible had disintegrated.

Ino wondered if something similar had happened to her, and if her own body would soon die.

She certainly didn't feel very alive, anymore.

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **Northern Sector, Konoha Crater;  
Heartless Invasion, Hour 1, Minute 10;  
Uzumaki Naruto:**

He dodged backward, retreating from the line of creatures that had surrounded them. He panted, not used to feeling low on chakra, and could tell that Hinata was just as tired, back to back as they were.

He glanced over his shoulder, a mirthless laugh echoing from his throat. "Heh... And you know... It was going _so well_ until now..."

Hinata laughed at his attempt at humor, breathing heavily. "I'm s-sorry... Na-Naruto-kun... If I wasn't so w-weak..."

Naruto shook his head and bumped his shoulder against hers. "Don't talk like that... You're strong, Hinata. You've taken out even more than me and my clones have."

"Th-that's not.. true..."

He laughed, watching the horde of enemies around them continue to stare, boxing them in. "No, I've been watching... Okay, so... maybe I lost count somewhere. But still... I'm pretty sure you're in the lead." He panted, his shoulders growing heavy. "And besides... You went up against Pain. You fought him with your all... even though you knew... how high of a level he was on... You never give up... never... haa... go back.. on your word... right? Our... nindo... remember..? You're.. strong.. Hina..ta...ch..."

He heard Hinata scream his name- ' _when had she gotten so far away?'_ \- And then he knew only darkness.

' _Wait.'_ It wasn't darkness. It was merely a blink- a single moment stretched out for eons. As his eyes opened again, he watched in impossibly slow motion as the world tipped on its side, Naruto falling over. Saw Hinata turned to catch him, unaware of the four creatures that leapt from the horde, aimed at her back. Observed, detached, as his body moved on it's own, righting itself dizzyingly and stepping around Hinata with a fluid-like grace to defend her, his left hand coming up. It was only as they reached him, everything still moving as though through molasses, that he realized he didn't have a _**Rasengan**_ at the ready- _didn't even have a kunai in hand_ \- but it was too late to alter his course, provided he even could. And in the end, it made no difference.

 _ **Light**_.

Light erupted from his hand, filling the circle made by the horde, blinding all present for just a moment. And then time resumed its natural course, and Naruto stared.

The four creatures- two of the kunai-holding ninja, one of the short armored beings, and a new variant they had been seeing that resembled a samurai- were halted in place, their blades (and foot in the case of the armored one) held back by his own weapon.

The weapon he had conjured from light.

 _The weapon from his dream._

Starting from the handle, it was hidden by not only his hand, but also the orange and red traditional diamond-shaped katana weave. The yellow guard actually wrapped entirely around in a semi-rectangular shape from the hilt to the pommel on the side of his knuckles, extending back over the top of his hand only a few inches along the other direction. At the pommel, a clasp lead down a silver chain to meet a little keychain: it was an orange swirl, lined in blue; the old Uzumaki Clan crest. The blade, for it certainly was sharp, was nevertheless unusual. Falling at three feet, it looked to be made of some dark steel- similar in appearance to the pigmentation of a kunai knife. It was a fairly thin, but wide blade, edged on both sides until it got to the top. About six inches from the tip on the same side as the full guard, the blade's edge drastically changes, turning into what can only be described as the Konoha leaf symbol, complete with internal swirls that quickly changed into a distinctly blue tinted metal. The 'stem' of the leaf symbol sat on the other side of the main blade, sticking out in a diagonal spike.

All-in-all, it seemed fairly impractical as a blade, making more sense as an unwieldy axe, but Naruto knew, from his dream, that this was absolutely a sword; light but balanced, it had the potential to flow in his hand like nothing else. Oh yes, it was a blade, alright..

Keyblade.

Keyblade.

The voice echoed all around him, yet only in his head. And he knew what he had to do. His body- his heart- felt it instinctively. His wrist twisted to one side, his arm jerking out and swiping the blade away from him, knocking the enemies back to the edge of the circle. And every creature, big and small, flying and grounded, all _stopped_. Where before, they had been jerking and twitching in their own unique ways, the only movement was from the winged ones staying afloat. And once again, it sent shivers down Naruto's spine.

Only this time, he knew they had frozen for a different reason.

They were _afraid_.

And Naruto grinned.

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **South Beach, Kid's Island,  
Destiny Islands;  
Launch Day;  
Sora:**

The young Keyblade wielder tied up his burlap sack, packed with a change of clothes and various items he couldn't fit in his pockets. He looked down at all that was left: the Keychains.

Most of them were broken and grey, and he felt his heart ache at the loss. He felt bad- some of those Keychains were born from the friendships he had made since waking up in Twilight Town. But he knew there was no other way they could get off-world, not with the Gummi parts they had. But he still had a few- ones he didn't want to use, or wouldn't have been much help in his plan anyway. The Kingdom Key, Oblivion, Rumbling Rose, and Sweet Memory Keychains were sitting in their own pile, still bright and intact. He had been using the Oathkeeper to enhance his magic and Drive length while he was breaking down the other seventeen Keychains, so it was still equipped to his Keyblade.

He put the broken keychains into his sack, pocketing the rest as always, and stood up. Throwing his bag over his shoulder, he left the hollow and walked out along the wooden walkways, heading to the ladder down to the ground. He stopped just before climbing down when he heard his name being called.

Looking down at the beach, he smiled and waved at Kairi. "I'm coming!"

Once there, he stuck his hand in his pocket, the other still holding his bag. "Good morning, princess!"

She glared at him and poked him in the chest repeatedly. "Stop. Caling. Me. That!"

He rubbed his chest in mock pain and laughed, "But it's true!" At her further glare, he laughed some more and raised his hand in front of him in defence of another assault. "Alright, alright! Good morning, Kairi."

She smiled and 'hm'ed in satisfaction. "That's better. Good morning, Sora! Afternoon, actually, it's like one o'clock. You all packed up?" she asked, looking at his bag.

He hefted it and nodded, losing some of his smile. "Yup. Everything I need and more, probably," he answered, rolling his shoulder.

"Cool. Riku called me this morning and said he wasn't going to be here 'till tonight. Apparently he let it slip to his dad that he was going away again, and he wanted to spend the day with Riku."

Sora laughed, "Oh man, I've met Riku's dad! Riku's going to be really irritated by the time he gets here!"

Kairi laughed as well. "I'll bet! I just met up with Wakka. He, Tidus, and Selphie will be visiting the island a lot more often, to keep an eye on things, but they still have classes right now. Looks like everybody will be here tonight."

Sora nodded, not really bothered by it. "Donald and Goofy are on the north beach, making sure my math is right about how much power we have." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm still not that good at it, heheh..."

Kairi giggled, but before she could speak, Sora thought of something. "Hey wait- why aren't you in class right now?"

Kairi seemed startled, but shuffled her feet a bit and grinned, her face turning red. "Well, it was supposed to be a surprise..." He looked at her, not comprehending. "I.. am coming with you guys!"

His jaw fell open, his pack slipping from his grip to fall on the sand behind him. "What- really?! But you- how- Kairi, that's awesome, but how? Why?"

She put her hands on her hips and smirked at him. "Because _I_ can wield a Keyblade! Watch, watch!"

Before he could even remember, vaguely, that he had seen her swinging around what looked like a bouquet of flowers in Organization XIII's castle, she stepped back and held her right hand out in front of her, closing her eyes in concentration. Sure enough, a familiar burst of light, accompanied by bubbles and flower petals, erupted from her hand, placing what was undeniably a Keyblade into her grasp.

He jerked back, surprised despite himself. He stared at it, marveling at the intricate weaving of what looked like a sand and water motif fighting over a sunset rod before it 'bloomed' into the flowers that made up the teeth. Glancing at the Keychain, he couldn't help but chuckle when he saw that it was a paopu fruit. "I forgot about that. I only saw it for a second- thought I had imagined it, actually."

Kairi held it between her two hands, looking down at it. "This is actually the second time I've summoned it since Riku gave it to me... The day after we got back, I did it once in my room," she looked up at him and shrugged. "Just to see if I could. This is why I've been kind of distant sometimes- I kept wanting so badly to tell you, but I swore to myself that it would be a surprise!"

Sora grinned, several weights and worries leaving him all at once. "This is awesome! I had been so sad, thinking I had to leave you behind again..."

Kairi smiled at him, her cheeks still red. She shook her head and said, "If I can help it, you guys aren't leaving me behind ever again! You both went through Hell and back for me, in your own ways... It's time I started fighting for myself!"

Sora stepped to her side and threw his arm around her shoulders, his other hand giving her a thumbs-up. He grinned, right in her face, and declared confidently, "And when it can't be done on your own, I'll be there to help you!"

"Hmph. I'm not sure whether to be insulted or thankful.."

"Wha-uhhh..?"

Kairi giggled and hopped to her tippie toes for a moment, catching him off guard and pecking his cheek. "Thank you, Sora."

Sora struggled to respond, but Kairi laughed and spun away from him, turning and bringing her Keyblade to bear on him. "Now! Teach me how to use this thing!"

Surprised for a moment, he laughed and let the subject drop. He adopted his signature thinking pose, observing her stance. She lead with her right side, left foot back. She stood with her legs bent and somewhat wide, and she held her Keyblade in one hand out in front of her- possibly a bit too far, if he was any judge. Her other hand was held slightly aloft behind her- it sort of reminded him of Captain Jack and his cutlass. "Well, I don't know a whole lot about how you're _supposed_ to use it- if there even _is_ a right way. I know what I do and what Riku does are pretty different, but we've been different since we were kids, fighting with sticks and wooden swords." With a twitch of his hand, he summoned his own Keyblade, the Oathkeeper bursting into his grasp. He brought it in front of himself and bent his knees, holding on with two hands. "So for now, how about you attack me? I'll guard, and see if I can spot something I can help you with."

Kairi seemed unsure, but narrowed her eyes and started running at him. He noticed her right elbow bending, bringing the Keyblade closer to herself, almost crossing it over her chest. Her left hand didn't seem to know what to do, basically pulling in a bit closer and trailing behind her. When she got close to him, her arm adjusted then swung, Keyblade coming out in a horizontal slash, a cry accompanying her attack.

The blades clashed and glanced off each other, Sora stepping back to disengage so she could keep going however she felt natural.

It seemed 'natural' for her involved following the horizontal swing's momentum and spinning, driving her heel into the ground to stop and bringing the Keyblade up to swing down on him, her left foot coming to the front to aid in her arc. He adjusted his guard to block that and took another step back, emulating the effect of attacking an average Heartless. He was very careful not to Guard and reflect her attacks, simply blocking them and allowing her to continue.

From there, she brought the Keyblade up, stepping forward and stabbing with the same motion. When he went to deflect her attack to the side and turn, he was surprised at the force behind her thrust, taking a few unprepared steps back to keep his balance. "Nice!" he called, keeping his eyes trained on her blade and her limbs, watching her move into the next chain of whatever combo she seems to have come up with.

She let out a short, "Thanks!" before bringing the Keyblade further to her lower left, swinging up and to the right, Sora hurriedly adjusting his weapon to prevent his guard from being broken. He had to hurriedly adjust again, as she displayed impressive momentum control by bringing the blade right back down, glancing off his and coming back to the lower left, where she again spun and came back around, this time grasping her weapon with both hands and finishing with a strong horizontal slash from her right, ending her chain with her right arm across her torso, blade down and to the left, held in both hands. Sora stepped back from the last blow, and Kairi let go with her left hand, raising her Keyblade back up in front of her and taking a breath.

He noticed how the last spin had brought her feet and body back to her neutral position, only requiring her to let go to return to start. His eyes wide, he slowly smiled and relaxed his stance, laughing happily. "That was really good! I was going to say something about only using one hand, especially as a beginner- but spinning is a good trick to fight that, and the way you brought your left hand in for extra power was great!"

Kairi smiled and relaxed, her cheeks pinking and her eyes casting to the ground. "You really think so? I- I wasn't sure if maybe that was too.. flashy or advanced or something, the spinning.."

Sora shrugged. "Beats me! I spin a little bit- a lot more in the air- and Riku does, too. Although, Riku's always a little... floaty." They chuckled about that, each having witnessed Riku lament that his feet were touching the ground too much after a fight. "Seriously, I'm not sure there's a right or wrong way to do this. You've got good control over your momentum- that fast up-down combo you did near the end would have been really hard for me a couple years ago, _especially_ one-handed. Try to add more upward slashes- you've got a strong upswing, and doing it right can break a guard or entirely disarm somebody. At the very least it'll knock a Heartless into the air and on its back- take it out of the fight for a few seconds or opening the path to a follow-up aerial strike. Another thing I noticed was your stance. You hold your Keyblade too far out in front of you- if you get attacked quickly, you won't have time to defend yourself, and holding it that far can make it hard to open an attack."

Kairi assumed her stance and brought her arm in closer, "Like this?"

Sora nodded and walked to the side a bit, observing her legs. "Bring your legs a little closer, too... right there! Keep your knees bent. Is that comfortable?"

Kairi tightened her stance at his direction, bouncing on the balls of her feet a few times and nodding. "Yeah, I can hold this. Why?"

Sora tapped her shoulder with the flat side of the Oathkeeper, saying, "It'll give you more balance and control over your first movement. Like this, you'll be able to move in any direction much easier, not just forward."

"How do you know all this, Sora?"

In answer, he stepped back and crouched down into his own stance, bending his knees and bending over slightly, bringing his Keyblade to his right side and holding it pointed back and to the side with both hands. "I didn't always fight like this. When we were younger and just getting interested in it, Riku and I went through a lot of different styles we saw on TV and stuff. We made a lot of mistakes and got a lot of scraped knees, but eventually we found ways that worked for us." He straightened and relaxed. "And I still mix it up sometimes, after all I've learned. Like I said, I don't think there's a right or wrong way to fight- whatever you can make work is good enough." Sora suddenly remembered the previous day, seeing her among Riku's 'magic class'. "So, you learned some spells from Riku, right?"

Caught off guard, Kairi relaxed her stance. "U-uh, yeah! And Donald taught us a healing spell, too."

Sora took a few steps back and held his Keyblade horizontally out in front of him, fairly stiff. "Okay, show me what you learned."

Kairi's jaw dropped and she yelled, "Sora! Those spells are dangerous-"

"And your Keyblade isn't?"

Kairi shut up, and seemed to flinch.

Sora lowered his arm and smiled at her. "I'm glad you're worried about me, but it's okay, Kairi! I knew what I was doing, defending before. And I know what I'm doing here, defending now. You shouldn't be able to hurt me, not when I know it's coming like this. Besides," he laughed, grinning, "You can patch me up with _**Cure**_ , anyway!" His arm came back up, Oathkeeper seeming to glow with an inner light. "Now come on, show me what you've got! You're the one who wanted to learn how to fight- woah!" He was almost caught off guard as Kairi cried out, her Keyblade snapping forward and throwing a burst of fire at him. He called out, " _ **Reflect!**_ " and a translucent barrier of hexagonal plates burst into being in front of him, absorbing the flames before dispersing.

Kairi just smirked at him. "What? You said to show you~"

Sora laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, I guess I asked for that one. Okay, so he taught you a _**Fire**_ variant. What else?"

Kairi's Keyblade went into the air, her arm pointing it straight up. " _ **Thunder!**_ "

Sora flourished his blade, casting the second stage of his _**Reflect**_ spell and watching the lighting split and arc around his shield into the ground. " _ **Thunder**_ is probably one of my favorites! Anything else?"

His eyes widened as she charged towards him, veering off to his right, Keyblade wound up across her chest. Her arm snapped out, the blade rushing at his shoulder. He cast _**Reflect**_ again, and watched, mouth agape, as _ice_ spread over the shield before shattering and bursting in the same moment, Kairi's Keyblade being knocked back and throwing her off balance. He had timed the spell a bit too well, causing a break in her actions.

As she wobbled and regained her balance, Sora stared at the steadily disappearing ice shards on the ground. "What.. was _that?!_ "

Kairi seemed embarrassed- and after doing such a thing! "I... I'm still not very good at _**Blizzard**_ **.** When Riku was teaching it to us, I could never shoot it like _**Fire**_ , the way he showed us. I had to touch something to cast it... I just figured, since you guys cast your spells through your Keyblades, and it's been working so far for me, maybe I could... I dunno... make my weird _**Blizzard**_ -touch go through my Keyblade.."

Sora lifted his hand, looking down at the Oathkeeper. He had never thought about localizing a spell like that- they always seemed useful enough as ranged attacks. "You know, that's a really cool idea, Kairi! I should try that sometime!"

He smiled at her as she looked at him, seeming surprised. Then she giggled a little, and adjusted her footing. "Can we keep going? That's all the magic I know, besides _**Cure**_ , and this is... actually kind of fun!"

He laughed and gripped his blade. "Finally done egging me and Riku on and ready to tousle, yourself, huh?"

She giggled again and raised her own beach-themed weapon. "Heehee.. so you noticed!" Running forward, she opened with a strong upswing from her right side, which he deflected and moved around to strike at her side. She countered with a spinning sidestep, again displaying that momentum control, bringing her Keyblade down and around at his back. He dove forward, avoiding the hit and rolling in the sand a few times to get some distance, spinning on his way up to face her.

His eyes widened as he saw her clothes and hair flow in an unseen wind, her Keyblade glowing. With a shout per swing, several short cuts at the air accompanied five blasts of _**Fire**_ , each ball following a different arc right for him. Deflecting the first one with Oathkeeper, he leapt over the second, quickly deflecting the next two in the air and casting _**Reflect**_ for the last. The timing was right, and the spell reversed, hurtling back at her. Sora momentarily panicked, but it seemed Kairi had really been learning.

Leaping forward, she spun in a corkscrew through the air, passing over the spell by a finger's breadth. Stretching her arms out and catching the earth, she stopped her spin and turned it into a roll, coming up running. With a shout, the melee returned, Sora and Kairi almost taking turns trying to trip the other up.

Sora, feeling the thrill of the fight and getting a little carried away, stepped up his game and put more power behind a two-handed downswing than he had been. Kairi's guard broke and her arms went wide. Sora didn't realize this immediately, simply moving into the next swing, catching her in the side, the Keyblade passing through its target as always. Kairi cried out, getting pushed back and landing on her butt, Keyblade dropped in the sand as her hand went to her stomach.

Sora realized what had happened and vanished his Keyblade instantly, calling her name and rushing to kneel next to her, apologizing profusely.

Kairi shook her head, "No, no, it's okay! I.. I think I'm okay?" She lifted her hand, revealing no cut or scrape or bloodstain.

But Sora knew better and shook his head. "The Keyblade doesn't cut, at least not like that. Not unless you make it. It attacks your lifeforce directly."

Kairi gave him a look, thoroughly confused. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't really get all the details, but it's basically how it sounds. Instead of cutting your physical body, it normally attacks your lifeforce. The Heartless, the Nobodies- heck even Leon's sword all does the same thing because it's more effective than a normal cut or stab. Of course, Heartless attacks also hurt flesh, but only for a few seconds. The Keyblade _can_ make physical cuts, but you have to like... tell it to, I guess? I'm not the best at explaining it..."

Kairi looked down at her stomach, her face scrunched up cutely. "So... _Am_ I okay?"

Sora chuckled and sighed. "Yes, but for all intents and purposes, you're hurt. And it isn't like a scrape or a broken bone; it doesn't heal on its own. It has to be told to heal. _**Cure**_ , Potions... There are some other things that'll do it, but you get the idea. You need to _be_ healed."

Kairi seemed to consider this before asking something... unexpected. "So, if my lifeforce is hurt... What happens when it runs out?"

Sora paused, and looked down at the sand, unsure of how to answer. Eventually, he said, "If it runs out completely... you're destroyed. Depending on how it happened, you might get taken by the darkness. Or you might just die. Or... something else, I guess. I've seen some weird stuff," he added, breaking the sombre mood and chuckling.

Kairi laughed a little, too, and rubbed her stomach idly. Sora watched the motion until her voice made him look at her again. "So, again... Am I okay?" she asked, laughing some more.

He chuckled and stood up, holding his hand out. She took it and he pulled her up, saying, "Yes, you're okay. You've got plenty of lifeforce left."

She raised an eyebrow, not letting go of his hand, yet. "Why do you say that, how do you know?"

Sora was intensely aware that they were still holding hands, but answered her question with minimal awkwardness. "Uh.. Cause I can sense it."

Kairi gave him a deadpan look. "Sense it. You can sense my lifeforce?"

He raised his eyebrow at her. "What, after everything else, _that's_ what you don't believe? I use _**Scan**_. It's an Ability that tells me how much lifeforce someone has."

She seemed thoughtful. "Huh... Abilities sound really useful!"

Sora nodded and looked down at their hands. He wondered...

He held her hand up and clasped it in both of his, startling her and making her blush. But Sora smiled, and simply said, "Let me give you some!"

He closed his eyes as she asked, "You can do that?"

"I dunno, probably. Goofy gave me one when I met him, though he just kind of... pulled it out." He shook his head and scrunched up his face in concentration. "It's hard to explain, just let me focus.."

If she had something to say, she kept it quiet as he searched inside himself, finding the familiar feeling of his Abilities.

He had a lot. He had lost or forgotten so many due to the nature of Castle Oblivion and Namine's magic, but over the course of his second adventure he had learned so much more. And there were three in particular that he felt Kairi should have, should he be able to actually do this.

He identified the feeling of _**Scan**_ , _**Aerial Recovery**_ , and _**Leaf Bracer**_. He had a lot of linkable energy- Ability Points, as he thought of it- left over after sorting through his Abilities and disconnecting a lot of the ones that he didn't need anymore. His _**Combo Plus**_ , _**Air Combo Plus**_ , things like that had all become second nature to him. He didn't need them to enhance his combo speed or control anymore. So he played with using _**Scan**_ to sense Kairi's Ability Pool, trying to figure out how to transfer something to her. He could just feel it on the edge of his heart- his connection to her. It was still there, and it made him smile a little. But in addition to that, he could feel _her_ , as she was right then and there, and it was this connection that he figured he had to use.

Pulling on _**Leaf Bracer**_ , it took him a while to figure it out. It was almost the opposite of using his Drive to pull on the Keychains- like using his own power to imbue something else. He heard Kairi gasp and jump a bit, and he grinned. "That's one..."

"It was.. tingly..."

"Well, two more for now, okay? I have no idea how much link energy or Ability Points you have, so you may not be able to have very many active all at once, yet."

The three he had planned didn't use up much AP, just 5 units in total and he was sure she had at least that much. A quick check ensured that, yes, he still had _**Leaf Bracer**_ , so he seemed to have done it right. He pushed _**Aerial Recovery**_ through next, fighting a laugh as she jumped again in surprise. "One more, one more! This one's _**Scan**_ , okay?"

"O-okay.. Wow that's a... weird feeling. A good weird! But.. wow."

That confused Sora and made him pause a bit. Perhaps he wasn't doing it quite right? But he was already 'copying' _**Scan**_ , and so simply moved to finish, mumbling, "Sorry, it's my first time doing this.."

"Sora, it's oka-AHyy... It's fine."

He opened his eyes, both finished and concerned. He blushed, however, when he saw her face. She, too, was flushed, and seemed quite warm. Her breathing was a little heavy, as though they had just had another bout despite not having moved. Her eyes were wide, staring at him. "U-uh.. You sure you're... okay?"

She nodded, almost too vigorously, then seemed to shake her head and refocus. "I'm fine! I'm fine. It was just.. more intense than I was expecting."

Sora let go of her hand and rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Heh, sorry about that... I've never done it before, so I just kinda went with what works. Goofy just kind of... pulled it out of himself and handed me a little ball of light, but I've got no idea how to do that."

Kairi put her hand on her chest and breathed, laughing as she calmed down. "It's okay, Sora. So, do I have Abilities now? What did you give me?"

" _ **Scan**_ , obviously. Also _**Aerial Recovery**_ , which lets you use air currents to recover from a dangerous falling state. I also use it a little to help me keep up combos in the air. And finally _**Leaf Bracer**_. It's really easy to train and become natural in that one. It makes it so that as soon as you start to cast a _**Cure**_ spell, it'll finish no matter what happens. Even if you get knocked down or thrown around before you finish, the spell will still go off."

Kairi's smile got huge. "That's amazing! So, that's it, I can just _do_ all that now?"

Sora chuckled. "No, you still need to link them to you. You have them, but they aren't active."

"Sooo, how do I activate them, silly?"

He smiled softly and placed a cupped hand over the center of his chest, closing his eyes and slightly bowing his head. "You feel them, and just.. link 'em up! Like your Magic you've been learning, or how you summon your Keyblade, you just need to feel it and it will come. Tell it to be active, and it'll take what Ability Points it needs, giving you its power in return."

He opened his eyes and nodded at her hand, "Try it!"

She copied him, her left hand going to her chest as she concentrated. After a few moments, she seemed to become frustrated. "I... Ugh, I can't figure it out!"

Not wanting her to get angry, he hurried to get behind her, his own left hand coming around to rest on hers, unintentionally lacing their fingers. She jumped, and turned her head around to look at him. Sora smiled, fighting his slight blush. "Concentrate again. I'll try to help you."

She stared at him for a long moment, big eyes locked on his before she smiled back, eyes closing as she turned back around and tilted her head down. "Okay."

It was such a simple word, but somehow the way she said it made his heart skip a beat. His hand flexed slightly and he stepped closer, resting his chest against her back unconsciously. "Just relax, but also concentrate... Try to let me in, if that makes sense.."

Her response was calm, almost serene, "Letting you in makes all the sense in the world, Sora..."

He didn't know at all how to respond to that, but almost immediately he felt a shift. The connection between their hearts called to him, and he abandoned his focus on the other link- the one formed by him reaching out with his energy, the one he had given her the Abilities through. His attention was entirely on the way the connection at the edge of his heart was... growing? Something was happening, surely, and suddenly he felt it.

They both gasped and twitched, startled. The moment it happened, their idle right hands sought each other out, clasping together as best they could.

And they could _feel_. Sora knew exactly how much link energy- how many Ability Points she had to work with: seven units. And Kairi knew, now, that Sora had so much more than she had thought. The feelings she got from sensing his abilities, both active and dormant, were so complex- she wasn't sure how he kept it all straight! And there was more. Kairi could feel so much about him, so much that she didn't even know had a feeling, but now made more sense and felt more natural than the ground beneath her shoes. She could feel his Magic, both the pool of Mana he had to cast from as well as the spells at his disposal. And the pool was bigger than hers, she knew. He had five- eight- twelve- she couldn't even understand and keep track of how many different spells he had!

Sora, too, could feel these things about her. He recognised her _**Blizzard**_ spell, knew that there was something off about it. Incomplete. There was something off about her _**Cure**_ spell, as well. It didn't feel the same; the only reason he knew it was _**Cure**_ was because he recognised the only other spells she knew.

Sora gasped again, Kairi giving out a shocked squeak as she 'touched' his Drive. Sora stuttered out, "Th-tha... T-th-that's my D-D-Drive..." For some reason, her contact with that power within him was affecting him in a lot of different ways; it was hard to manage.

"It's so... _fast_..."

"H-how can so-something like that be _f-fast_?"

"I don't know, that's just how it feels!"

Sora 'drifted' back to where he had sensed her Abilities. "Here... This is where they are."

Somehow, through this strange connection, he 'felt' her 'join' him. "O-oh! Right, yeah... That's different.."

"Now you just.. link up to them."

"L-like this?"

Sora felt her activate _**Scan**_ , and smiled into her hair. "Yeah, there ya go! N-now you can sense my lifeforce!"

She seemed to giggle breathlessly. "Silly... I can already feel it, like this.. Geez, why is it so big?!"

He laughed. "Because I've worked and trained very hard these last few years.."

He was about to pull away, for lack of a better term, from the connection when something gave him pause. It showed up right as Kairi said softly, "I know you have..."

The moment he became aware of the anomaly, it seemed to fill their connection, taking up all of his attention and making them both gasp again.

And then he knew what it was.

His eyes popped open as Kairi turned her head to look at him. They stared, wide-eyed at each other. "Kairi..?"

"Sora..." she breathed out, her neck stretching and chin tilting up. He leaned down further, their eyes closing. They didn't need words anymore, not when they were like this. Like this, their feelings could flow between them freely, and they took every advantage of that as their lips met.

It was pure bliss. The feelings flooding their connection, their hearts, blocked out everything else. It was just them, alone, connected again.

Until it wasn't.

"Woah, what da hell happened to da dock?!"

Sora and Kairi broke apart instantly, hands flying from each other and stepping apart, thoroughly startled. They both stared, eyes wide and faces red, as Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie all climbed out of Wakka's longboat and onto the dock.

The dock that, Sora suddenly noticed, had a big, smoking hole right in the middle. Kairi gasped from beside him, and started running towards them. "Oh no, I am SO sorry! W-we were fighting and I- Oh, man!"

Sora chuckled and jogged to catch up, shaking his head and waving his hand. "No, no, that's my fault! I was deflecting her _**Fire**_ spells and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where they were going. Sorry, guys!"

Wakka was surprised. "You got into a fight? _You two?!_ "

Kairi shook her head vigorously from her place on the beach, looking up at the other three on the dock as Sora came up next to her. "No, no! We were sparring!"

Tidus raised his eyebrow, looking between them. "Is that why you guys are so red? Must have been a helluva workout, huh?"

He and Kairi both stiffened, and looked at each other. Sora grinned, and looked into her eyes. "Yeah, it was.. really good."

Kairi's eyes widened slightly, and he knew she had understood what he was really saying. She turned back to look at their friends and hurried to change the subject. "What- what are you guys doing here? Don't you have class?"

Selphie leaned out from behind the boys and gave Kairi a look. "Uh yeah, like over an hour ago! It's almost four, Kairi!"

Sora jerked back and looked up at the sky to gauge the sun. "Were we really at it that long..?" he muttered

Wakka gingerly stepped over the smouldering hole in the planks and hopped down off the side to the sand, grunting as he grinned at them, leaning back and putting both his hands behind his head. "Yao! Howzit goin', guys?"

Tidus helped Selphie over the gap and hopped down as well. "You excited to get goin', Sora?"

Sora rubbed his nose a little and grinned. "You bet! Though I am gonna miss you guys again."

Wakka laughed boisterously and said, "Well then ya better build a better ship and come back to see us, huh?"

Selphie spoke up, currently digging through her backpack on the ground. "Or at least learn how the King gets around."

Sora chuckled, remembering how King Mickey had held his Keyblade out to the sky and just seemed to vanish in a burst of light. "Yeah, that'd be pretty useful, huh? I promise, we'll come back and visit when we can."

Kairi smiled. "Yeah, don't worry guys- we'll be back a lot sooner, this time!"

Selphie's head snapped to look at Kairi, mouth agape. She shot to her feet and exclaimed, "You're leaving too?!"

Kairi jerked back, surprised, and chuckled sheepishly. "Uh, heheh... It was a surprise... Surprise!" she cheered half-heartedly, clearly not sure she should have kept it secret.

Selphie groaned and rolled her eyes- and her head, actually. "I can't believe you're leaving me here with these muscleheads- again!"

"Hey! The last time wasn't my fault! I was almost kidnapped!"

Tidus turned to look as Wakka, muttering, "Muscleheads..?" Wakka shrugged.

Selphie stomped forward and poked Kairi in the chest as she glared at her. "But you were planning on finding a way to chase after Sora _before_ that guy showed up! You were going to leave anyway!"

As Kairi tried to calm Selphie down and promise again that they'd be back to visit, Sora glanced around and spotted his pack further up the beach where he had dropped it- a distinctly scorched divot in the sand right next to it. He chuckled nervously to himself. "I should really pay more attention..." Jogging over to it, he checked it over for any burns. Thankfully it seemed to have remained unscathed. Carrying it back over to the others, he stopped as they all turned to look at him. "Uh.. what's up?"

Kairi seemed to shrink in on herself, embarrassed- the reason why was soon evident as Selphie put her face right up in his and asked, "So, I hear you and Kairi had a little _moment_ earlier?"

His eyes flicked to his crush, who was looking at him apologetically. "Uhhh, yeah.. Y-yeah, I guess we did.."

Tidus laughed and asked, "So, you guys are finally dating, huh? Took ya long enough!"

Sora's mind presented a thought, and he smiled, faking calm and composure. "Actually..." He sidestepped Selphie and walked over to Kairi, dropping his bag to the sand again. "I never asked. You guys kind of interrupted the _little moment_ ," he said, half-heartedly glaring at each of them. Turning to face Kairi, he felt his cheeks heat up, but stayed focused. Kairi, however, was a mess! She looked like she might be trembling, and her entire face and neck were red. She had her hands raised and tucked in against her chest, clearly feeling trapped.

Sora smiled. "Kairi? Will you go out with me?" She squeaked and nodded, still shaking. Well, Sora would put a stop to that soon enough.

Wakka wolf-whistled as Sora wrapped his arms around Kairi's upper and lower back, pulling her up and against him as he pressed his lips to hers again. Her trapped arms twitched before shifting, grabbing the front of his shirt as though holding on for dear life, Kairi losing herself in the kiss. Their connection opened again, and their feelings flooded each other, each feeding off the other and bouncing back and forth, building and blocking out the cat calls and cheers of their friends.

It was just the two of them.

Together, again.

Connected.

 **(~HJN~)**

 **I'll be honest, I intended to make this longer. But I found such a sweet little cliffhanger to stop at while I go out of town for a week! MUAHAHAHA!**

 **I'll be away on business, so I may not have time to respond to PMs and Reviews and the like as much as I have been these last couple weeks. Please be patient with me- I'll be responding and writing again by Feb 21st!**

 **I also really wanted to get an update out for this story- it's been nearly a year, now. We got to see Naruto's Keyblade- If you weren't able to follow the description, I'll try to draw it later, though I'm REALLY not that kind of artist. I may have to see if I can get somebody with an actual modicum of talent to do it, haha!**

 **We also got to see why Kairi had been acting a little weird last chapter. Sneaky little girl, huh?**

 **Oh yeah, and what's happened to Ino!? Is she gonna be okay? You'll have to wait and see, though feel free to guess!**

 **The connection between them is, obviously, a result of Kairi's heart taking refuge in Sora's. And no, it wasn't just an excuse for their feelings to be revealed. It has SO many more implications, uses, and consequences.**

 **Hope you enjoyed and decide to stick around!**

 **Ja ne~**


	3. Chapter 3

**And here we are again! I know it isn't my most popular story, probably because nobody really looks at crossovers, but I write whatever I wanna write.**

 **I'm changing up the Legend due to difficulties I've been having with transferring formatting to the site. Maybe I'll get around to retrofitting the previous chapters to this Legend, but probably not cause that's more work than you think and I'm a lazy bastard.**

 **Also, Naruto is right-handed, and that irritates me because I wanted him to use the Keyblade in his left. But OH WELL, you can summon it with either hand- THERE. It's CANON NOW.**

Legend:  
"Speech" - Normal format double-quotes  
' _Thoughts'_ \- Italic single-quotes and text _  
_" **Inhuman Speech"** \- Bold double-quotes and text **  
**' _ **Inhuman Thoughts'**_ \- Bold, italic single-quotes and text **  
** _Emphasis_ \- Italic text  
 **Location;  
Timeframe; ** \- Bold scene/character change indicators. **  
Character:**  
[Mysterious Voice] - Bracketed Narration/voice-in-your-head from dark/light creatures  
 _[Memory]_ \- Italic, bracketed Memory/Vision/Story  
 _ **Rasengan**_ \- Bold, italic jutsu/technique/magic/effect

 **(~HJN~)**

[A Mystery, a Sorry Thing]  
[Relieved of Suffering, Only with its Solution]  
[And Yet, Alas, Solving a Mystery Begets its Destruction]

 **South Beach, Kids' Island,  
Destiny Islands;  
Launch Night;  
Riku:**

The teen sighed and popped his back after tying up his boat. Turning, he regarded the board of wood clearly covering a large hole in the dock. Quirking his eyebrow and smirking a little, he stepped carefully to the beach proper, looking at the bonfire and his laughing friends over on the Paopu island. Curiously taking note of the signs of battle on the beach, he made his way over to the shack, heading up the stairs and across the bridge.

"So wait, you're telling me Sora had no idea she was a girl?"

"Hey, neither did Donald! It was really convincing armor!"

Riku stepped up behind the laughing Selphie, putting his hand on his hip and dropping his pack on the ground. "What embarrassing story are we telling?"

Everyone took notice of his arrival and jovially called out greetings, making him smile. Somebody handed him a soda and he plopped down on the ground next to Wakka as Tidus asked, "So how was the day with your old man, man?"

Riku groaned out loud, popping the top on his soda. "Honestly, I spent most of the time bored out of my mind while he _tried_ to find something to talk about." He took a drink before pointing around the group with the same hand. "You know he actually tried to ask about my love life? He seemed pretty convinced I was leaving on a trip with some girl."

He noticed a few pointed looks around the fire and quirked his eyebrow a little. Wakka, however, spoke before he could find out what was going on. "Man, I know what'cha mean. Gran-gran's been on my case for _months_ about findin' a nice girl ta 'settle down with'." He tossed his arms wide, looking exasperated. "Like, I'm seventeen, Gran-gran! I got all da time in da world, _and_ more important things ta worry about! If it happens, it happens, but I ain't in a hurry, man."

Riku raised his soda in a mock toast to the other boy's philosophy before taking another sip. Addressing his soon-to-be shipmates, he asked, "So, we're all good to go tonight, right?"

Sora nodded and gestured around to their friends. "What do you think the little party's for? Donald checked my math and we're totally set! I'm still kind of surprised that my solution to the power worked."

Donald nodded, his eyes closed and arms crossed. "Sora's calculations were a little off, but the end result is still in the green."

Sora scoffed and just took a drink, clearly not willing to get into it. Riku chuckled, but then noticed that Sora, normally right-handed, had been using his left hand to gesture and drink. The reason soon became apparent as he peered around the fire to see Sora's hand clasped with Kairi's left. He smirked and leaned forward a little, looking into their eyes. "So, anything you two wanna tell me?"

He took pleasure in the blushes he was able to see on their faces as they glanced at each other. He was a little surprised, though, when they seemed to grin back at him and Sora said, "Yeah, actually! Kairi's coming with us!"

Riku's eyes widened and he stared first at Sora, then at Kairi, who nodded and laughed at his expression. "Wait, what- why?"

"Hey, I can hold my own just fine now, thank you very much!"

Riku squinted a little and looked at Sora, who nodded and shrugged. "You saw the beach on the way up, right? She sprung it on me, said it was a surprise, and then we did some light sparring so she could get used to swinging her Keyblade."

Riku blinked and leaned back, resting his arm on his knee. "Huh. So I guess the hole in the dock was you two, as well?"

Kairi flinched, looking guilty, but Sora just laughed it off. "Haha, yeah! I wasn't paying much attention when I was deflecting her spells! Oh, hey, Riku! Did you know we can cast spells through our Keyblades- like, as melee attacks?!"

Riku blinked in surprise, again. "What? What are you talking about?"

Kairi giggled a little and answered him. "Sora's convinced that, by not being able to cast _**Blizzard**_ right, I've invented a new way to cast spells."

"It's totally awesome, we'll show you later when we get to the Olympus Colosseum."

Riku looked down for a moment, wondering how such a thing would look, before he nodded. "Hm. Okay then. I'm eager to see it," he said, smiling at them. Sora grinned back, and Kairi gave a small smile of her own. Which, coincidentally, reminded him of his original question. "Now that you've both effectively sidestepped my question, though, tell me honestly: What's up with you two?"

Sora chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head as always. "Heh, we weren't really trying to keep it a secret- just felt like playing around.. We uh... Well..."

Selphie, clearly feeling unusually generous, decided to save them. She turned to Riku and grinned, saying, "Sora and Kairi seem to have finally woken up and noticed each other- he asked her out right after we got here!" she finished exuberantly. "I thought Kairi was gonna faint when Sora started acting all confident!"

Wakka laughed boisterously, calling out, "Yeah, but dey sure forgot all 'bout us when dey kissed, huh?!"

Riku chuckled at the mental image, laughing some more when he saw the new couple's embarrassed faces. "Well, I guess it's about time. Hey Sora! You sure you don't want that Paopu fruit?" he asked, enjoying the chance to just joke around like this.

Sora, though, took the jibe in stride. "Heh, I just might! Although.." He turned to look at his girlfriend, Riku watching with fascination as the brunette's smile softened. "I'm not so sure we'd need it, at this point. We've kinda got our own.. 'Eternal connection' or whatever it is that legend says."

Riku was curious about that, intending to ask for clarification, when something seemed to occur to Tidus, who said, "Hey Sora, so.. How many of those Keychain things did you have to use, anyway? Did you like... use all of 'em, or what?"

Equally as interesting to the silver-haired boy, he turned his attention back to his rival, quirking an eyebrow and awaiting the answer.

Sora sighed, seeming sad, but smiled through it. "Almost. Even the ones that hardly boost my magic power any had a significant amount of magic in them that the Gummi Ship could use, which was good. I was only able to keep hold of four, in addition to the Kingdom Key. That's kind of the 'default form', I guess."

"How many did you have when you started?" Selphie asked curiously.

Sora chuckled sadly. "Besides the Kingdom Key, twenty-one. A lot of them had... some memories attached to them, and I'm kind of sad to see them go..." He looked up and caught Riku's eye. "Do you know anything about how Keychains are made? Some of the ones I had were trinkets that somehow became Keychains, but some were even more mysterious. If there's any way to restore the ones I broke, I'd really like to try."

Riku closed his eyes and ducked his head a bit, thinking deeply. He took a breath, then said, "Unfortunately, I probably know less than you about Keychains in general. I've only ever had four weapons since leaving the Island: Soul Eater, which I formed while being pulled through the darkness, your Keyblade, that incomplete Keyblade made of the Seven Pure Hearts, and my own Keyblade.." At this, he held out his right hand, summoning his weapon in a burst of silver lines and black sparks. "The Way to Dawn. Which, actually, is just Soul Eater after it turned into a Keyblade."

Sora looked at the weapon, seeming fixed on the blue eye at the guard. "How did that happen, anyway?"

Riku sighed, and held the conflicting sword up to the light of the fire, looking at it closely. "Honestly, I'm not completely sure. It was shortly before Kairi was taken to Organization XIII's castle. I was snooping around when I found a locked door. I was about to try and find a way around when this Keyblade just... _appeared._ I unlocked the door and from then on, whenever I tried to summon Soul Eater, Way to Dawn came instead. For a while, I didn't even know its name, until I got my face back. I still find myself calling it Soul Eater, though.."

All was silent for a while, until Kairi spoke up softly, "Uhm, Riku... Where did you find Destiny's Embrace, anyway?"

Everyone looked at her, confused, until she held out her own hand and summoned a Keyblade- the very one that he had given her at Organization XIII's castle. He was startled for a moment, before chuckling. "Hah, I almost forgot about that. So, Destiny's Embrace, huh? Interesting name..."

Sora leaned forward a little, tilting his head to the side. "Hey yeah, where _did_ you get that, Riku? And how'd you give it to Kairi?"

Riku could tell that their island-locked friends were just barely following along, but couldn't resist leading Sora on a little. He laughed, saying, "Funny story, actually... I got it the same way you stole yours!"

Sora recoiled, about to protest, when suddenly he thought about it and realized what Riku meant. "But wait.. Then that means..!"

Kairi looked between the two boys, clearly exasperated. "Alright, enough with the inside jokes or whatever! What are you guys talking about?"

Riku laughed, still finding the whole thing funny. Looking around at everyone, he got a little more serious and started telling the story. "I'll have to start from the beginning. When the Islands were destroyed almost three years ago, I was destined to receive Sora's Keyblade." Everyone gasped, but Sora just nodded solemnly, knowing this part of the story. "I was stupid, I can admit that now. I saw the darkness coming to swallow everything, and decided to embrace it. I was opening my heart, using my own darkness to try and escape- it was childish and unrefined, and I was lucky I didn't get lost completely to it right then and there. I invited Sora to come with me, but he intended to save me from the darkness, instead. My Keyblade- Sora's Keyblade, now- apparently decided that I needed it to actually survive the journey, and tried to appear to me. It did, but only for a moment, just long enough that the darkness wouldn't take me completely, yet. Sora accidentally intercepted it. I'm still unclear on the hows and whys on that part, but the end result is that my darkness manifested Soul Eater, and Sora got my Keyblade."

Riku took a drink of his soda, and was surprised when Sora picked up the story. "Later, after crossing paths with Riku a few times, we met again and he had... Well, he fell further to the darkness. He learned, somehow, that my Keyblade was meant to belong to him, and he commanded it to abandon me."

Riku saw Selphie's look at him, and shook his head. "Like I said, I was dumb. Dumb, lost, jealous, greedy, mislead- I recognise my mistakes, now. So, I took the Keyblade back from him and wielded it for a little while. But when we next met up, the bonds he had made with his friends, as well as his conviction to save Kairi and I, convinced the Keyblade to go back to him. It had, by traveling with him, become attuned to him and to the light, and by then my heart was too dark for it." He looked up at Sora, smiling wryly. "It never quite felt right in my hands, you know? Before then, that Keyblade had two masters it would obey- when you took it back, it was loyal only to you."

He took another gulp of his soda, finishing the can and crushing it. He accepted another one from Wakka, glad to see that the dark-skinned boy wasn't put off learning about his less-than reputable past, as Kairi hesitantly puzzled out, "So... You said that you found my Keyblade the same way Sora found his, right? Does that mean..?"

Riku smiled. "Yup. When those Heartless attacked you, I went to save you. There was a flash of light just like when Sora's- _our-_ Keyblade appeared, and I had intercepted yours. Since it had happened to me before, I recognized what happened, and just gave it to you. Again, I still don't know the finer details on why it's possible or how it works- heck, I still don't know how a Keyblade is formed, where it comes from, or how it chooses its owner." He turned to regard Sora. "So like I said, I've got no idea how Keychains are made, or what their purpose might be beyond altering the appearance and abilities of a Keyblade. For instance, could I use one of your Keychains? And if so, would it look the same as if you had used it?" He chuckled and closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Somehow I doubt it's even possible at all."

He opened his eyes, then widened them considerably as Sora tossed a Keychain into his lap over the fire. Sora just smiled at him as Riku squinted back, putting his soda down and picking the token up. It was a black chain with a similarly black crown on the end. He'd seen Sora use it before, as well as Roxas, but couldn't recall the name. "Oblivion," Sora supplied, surprising Riku again. He looked up at the boy, quirking an eyebrow. Sora chuckled, "Well, go on! That one's yours, anyway, if any of them are to work, it'll be that one. I've had it twice, both times because of you."

Riku didn't quite understand how Sora came to that conclusion, but nonetheless shrugged and tried to clip the token to his Keyblade, leaving the Way to Dawn Keychain on it like he had seen Sora do. There was a burst of light, then black smoke and purple sparks engulfed the Keyblade, quickly disappearing to reveal the Oblivion Keyblade. A collective gasp circled the fire, as Riku now held the Way to Dawn token in his hand. Riku stood woodenly, holding the Oblivion out in front of him, swinging it gently a few times. "It feels... different. What's it do?" he asked, looking down at Sora.

Who was, of course, just grinning like a madman. "You tell me! The first time I had it, it was really strong, but it made my Mana Pool smaller. This time, it... well, my Drive kind of interacted with it, I guess, cause it does something different for me, now. What's it do for you?"

Riku closed his eyes and _felt_ it, struggling a little. He didn't have any experience with sensing Keychains, not like Sora did. Eventually though, he was able to puzzle it out. "Wow.. It's.. weaker than Soul Eater- er, Way to Dawn- at least in the general sense. But... it's got this ability.. Advance Charge? When I get hit by magic, it reduces the time it takes for my Mana Pool to recharge the next time." He raised his eyebrow and looked down at Sora. "And that's not what it does for you?"

Sora, his eyes wide, shook his head slowly. "No.. No, it makes my Drive charge up faster when my MP is empty."

Donald made a sound of awe before saying, "Riku's version sounds like a preemptive MP Rage!"

Sora nodded, smiling a little. "Hey, yeah, it does! Man, that's cool! Get hit by enough magic and you could technically have a whole second Mana Pool in reserve!"

Riku laughed, "Assuming I survive getting hit by enough magic to do that! It sounds interesting, but not worth the reduced power, in my opinion." Even as he said so, he clipped his original Keychain back on, watching the short lightshow as Oblivion disappeared and Way to Dawn replaced it. He tossed the Oblivion token back to Sora, saying, "Besides, I'm still getting used to calling this thing Way to Dawn- more names would just confuse me."

They laughed, and carried on telling stories and making jokes for nearly another hour, the last of the sunset disappearing and the stars filling the sky. They would soon make their way to the north side of the island, where Donald, Goofy, and the Keyblade wielders would say goodbye to their friends and board the Gummi ship. But for now, they simply enjoied hanging out with each other, treasuring the chance to have a proper goodbye, this time.

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **Northern Sector, Konoha;  
Heartless Invasion, Hour 3, Minute 5;  
Uzumaki Naruto:**

He grunted, pouring chakra to his foot and lashing out with a kick, getting the black wolf-like monster off of him. Rolling to his feet, he brought his Keyblade up to defend against another leaping bite before finally dispatching the annoying beast. The burst of energy he had felt upon summoning the Keyblade has since dwindled and nearly left him- if he hadn't been still so tired from his fight with Pein, he probably wouldn't have been in this state by now.

Panting, he cut down the last beast- one of the armored ones- and ran down the street to the next group, already being engaged by two Chuunin. And he would have helped them, too, if it weren't for the tornado that ripped through the ranks of the enemy creatures, tossing some of the stronger ones around and dispersing the weaker ones.

Naruto looked to where the tornado came from and his face cracked into a huge smile despite the situation and his exhaustion. "Temari! Kankuro!" he yelled in glee, running up beside them. "What are you guys doing here?!"

Temari smirked as she sent another wave of wind at the black creatures. "Suna has received Konoha's call of distress."

Kankuro cut in with a grin of his own, "Don't worry Naruto, cavalry's here."

The jinchuuriki grinned and looked around, asking, "Is Gaara here, too? How many people did you bring?"

"Sorry Naruto, but Gaara has duties he still has to deal with in the village- he sent his best, instead."

Temari continued while Kankuro turned to fend off a big, round creature. "Trust me, he wishes he could be here for you, but we've got over forty ninja moving to support your defences- with that, we should be able to help."

Naruto frowned, but not from hearing that Gaara couldn't make it. _That_ , he understood. "From what my clones have been reporting, our defences are holding- what we really need is a stronger force fighting back. If we can thin the enemy presence or bring their attention somewhere else, we might be able to retake the village!" He hefted the Keyblade, bringing the siblings' attention to it for possibly the first time. "I don't get how it works, but this thing is the only conventional weapon that can actually hurt them without using the **Chakra Infusion Technique** , but it takes me a _lot_ of chakra to make clones with it. Otherwise, you _have_ to hit them with jutsu. I've noticed that if you can clear an area for long enough, the enemy stops appearing there for a while until creatures from other areas get back to it. You have to hold that spot for a while, though- these things can just appear from thin air if you don't... 'secure the area', I guess. The safe zones we have now are only clear because we've held them for so long."

Temari spun her fan and closed it, setting it on her back in a flourish. "Sounds like the only way to end this is going to be by expanding those safe zones until they cover the whole village. I'll spread the word," she said, biting her thumb and flying through the hand signs for the **Summoning Jutsu** , three large weasels with various bladed weapons appearing from the smoke.

While Temari conversed quietly with her summons, Naruto turned to see that, between Kankuro and the two Chuunin, this group had been eliminated. He sagged, breathing in relief. "Hey, Naruto!" The blonde turned at Temari's voice, seeing an edge of concern in her eyes. "How about you go and rest- you look more exhausted than when you defeated Gaara four years ago."

Naruto sighed. "Normally I'd say no, but you're right. With everything that's happened, I've never quite felt this drained. I'll be in the safe zone east of here. You guys be careful- these things can tear out your soul if you let them get you."

Naruto stuck around just long enough to make sure they believed him before leaping for the rooftops, striking out at a creature here and there. There was a closer safe zone to the north, but that wasn't where he was needed.

That wasn't where Hinata was.

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **East Safe Zone, Konoha;  
Heartless Invasion, Hour 3, Minute 15;  
Hyuuga Hinata:**

Pale eyes relaxed, **Byakugan** dissipating as Hinata finally caught sight of their blonde hero making his way back through the hordes of darkness. She shuddered, and not just from the strain of using her doujutsu in her state- those monsters were like black spots in her ultimate vision, voids of pure malice. They didn't seem to have any chakra and yet a few of the more powerful varieties could imitate certain jutsu. The sheer number of them still in the village effectively restrained the range of her sight, especially as weak as she was.

It seemed that Naruto was not the only one that rapidly healed from the various cuts and burns these creatures were capable of inflicting. Very few of the injured actually needed physical medical attention- the wounds simply vanished after a short time. Instead, it was as though they attacked your chakra, draining you and taking great chunks out of your stamina with each blow, often completely exhausting their prey all at once, knocking them out by surprise. When you grew too tired to fight or run anymore, one or more of them would advance on you and... do their thing. Kill you, steal your soul, whatever it was.

And so it was that, after several second and _third_ winds, Hinata finally conceded to retreat and rest. Naruto nearly assigned an entire team of Chuunin to keeping her in the safe zone before she agreed to remain willingly. The thought gave her slightly mixed feelings, but mostly she was happy that he was so adamant that she be safe. She was also happy that he had agreed to her going back out once she had recovered- there was no way she was going to sit on the sidelines and watch him fight anymore, at least not any more than she absolutely had to. After the admittedly disastrous taste she had gotten fighting to protect him from Pein, as well as the droves of creatures she had taken down at his side, she didn't think she'd be satisfied with anything less now.

Thankfully, he seemed just as eager to keep her next to him.

 _["There's no one else I'd rather have watching my back, Hinata, but you're about to collapse!"]_

She remembered his words with fondness and slight frustration. Regardless, she was brought from the memory when she felt him land next to her. Having been gently cradling her head to ward off the ache brought on by her reckless use of the **Byakugan** , Hinata opened her eyes and looked up at him, visually inspecting him for injuries, though she knew she'd find none. He _did_ look exhausted, but seemed to be taking it easy for once. A slight flush came to her cheeks and her mouth opened almost automatically, "Naruto-kun!"

"Hey, Hinata," he said as he took a seat next to her on her bench, his mysterious sword disappearing in a burst of light and silver leaves. Where it went, nobody knew, but Hinata paid it little mind- Naruto was never worried when it happened, so she wasn't either. He groaned as he rolled his shoulder, and Hinata turned away to retrieve a thermos of mineral water for him. He thanked her quietly before taking a few huge gulps, refreshing himself. Hinata waited patiently for him to quench his thirst- he had news for her, and he'd get to it when he was ready to talk. She could simply tell.

Indeed, after a few more sips, Naruto took a big breath, letting it back out and sagging slightly, finally seeming to relax a bit. "Gaara sent the reinforcements."

Hinata perked up, a little excited. "R-really? So quickly... W-when will they be here?"

Naruto chuckled. "They're here already, I ran into Temari and Kankuro. I gave them some advice about where to spread the ninja they brought- told them your theory about securing safe zones- and headed back here." He sighed, though not sadly. Hinata felt that he seemed relieved, and with good reason.

She sighed too, for the same reason. "I'm glad... Perhaps n-now we'll start g-gaining some ground!" she exclaimed- or at least, quietly yelled.

Naruto nodded, his eyes closed and his head tipped back- clearly he needed rest. He made a sound of agreement before knitting his brows together and rolling his shoulder again. Hinata frowned; had he hurt himself? "N-Naruto-kun, are you okay?"

His eyes peeked open at her for a moment before he shrugged. "Eh, I'm alright. This Keyblade is heavy, but it's the most effective way to fight them without spending too much chakra. It doesn't help that I've got no idea how to use a sword- I'm probably swinging it all wrong, heheh," he finished with a chuckle, rubbing his nose.

Hinata's frown didn't move- but she did. Shifting on the bench to face him better, she brought her hands up to his right shoulder and started massaging it without a word, her face focused, intent on making him feel better.

She heard him make a half-hearted protest before groaning in relief and sagging a bit more, just letting her work. She dug into the muscles, intimately familiar with many of the pressure points of the body, as they often coincided with tenketsu. His groans of approval guided her to the many sore spots he had accumulated, and she released what tension she could at every point with concentration etched on her face.

"Hinata..." So focused was she that she was taken by surprise when she looked up and found that she had drawn her face quite close to him. A blush bloomed across her face and she pushed back the darkness at the edge of her vision with practiced effort. Their faces were inches apart as she stared back into Naruto's blue eyes. But he smiled at her, his voice radiating gratitude. "You're really good at that, Hinata. Thank you!"

Hinata instinctively tried to avert her eyes but found she couldn't. Her courage and pride at having fought by his side- having him rely on her for this and everything else- was keeping her gaze rooted to his. Her lips slightly parted in surprise, she suddenly remembered her confession, and their interrupted conversation in the alley over three hours ago. ' _Has it really only been that long..? So much has changed, it feels like years...'_

Years spent by his side. Hinata shivered a bit at the thought. Did he even remember? Maybe.. She could...

"Hinata?"

She squeaked and refocused on his eyes to see that he was now frowning slightly. He put his left hand on her forehead, which only intensified the blush she just _knew_ he was investigating. Sure enough, he inquired about the possibility of a fever immediately afterwards.

He did this _all the time!_ If his hand didn't feel so good against her skin, she'd be more upset about him not noticing how she felt. At least he was worried about her.

She sighed, and finally broke eye contact. Perhaps it was her exhaustion, but she just couldn't muster the energy to be any more flustered. Besides, who knew when they'd have a calm moment alone like this again? Her hands moved almost on their own, coming up to grab his hand and bring it to her mouth, where she gently pressed her lips to his palm, her eyes closed. When she opened them again, she saw that- ' _Finally!'-_ he, too, had a blush on his face. Still half-hiding behind his hand, she found her voice, however broken it was. "N-Na-Naruto-kun is... not p-paying attention..." She refused to let frustration show on her face- especially in the form of tears. She was too old, too experienced to cry over just this. "D-do you remember, N-Naruto-kun?"

He was silent for a beat before, looking away from her, he mumbled, "Yeah... Hinata..."

She pressed on through his hesitation, drawing strength from the hope that some sort of conclusion was being reached. "Naruto-kun.. I've admired you from afar for _so long_.. I d-don't want to, anymore." He started, eyes snapping back to hers, but she had nothing but determination and affection on her face. "I want to stand _with_ you, now! I'm t-tired of hiding h-how I f-feel.." She took a deep breath before continuing. "N-Naruto-kun is.. Stubborn. And reckless, a-and a little f-forgetful... But Naruto-kun is _brave_ ," she breathed out, watching Naruto's eyes widen as he heard the admiration in her voice. "And kind, and Naruto-kun is _strong._ Naruto-kun never gives up, n-never goes back on his word. N-Naruto-kun... _i-inspires me_... Naruto-kun.." she pulled his hand down away from her face, drawing slightly closer. " _I love you!_ "

Naruto blinked, and looked surprised- whether because he hadn't believed her before, or simply didn't remember, or the sheer quiet intensity in her voice when she confessed- but Hinata was far from done. "I-I've loved you... w-watched you for s-so long.. I don't want to watch anymore! I w-want to be b-by your side-" she took one hand off his to gesture back down the streets he came from, "O-over there, fighting those things," she moved to indicate another direction, towards the front gates, "O-or out there, facing everything else!" Her arm returned, now, clutching his hand in both of hers and bringing it to her chest, "Right here, r-right here is where I need to be.. Next to you, h-helping you through e-everything this world has to throw at you!

"Let me do this... l-let me be that p-person for you..." Her eyes fell to their hands, her momentum petering out. ' _That's it, everything is out in the open now... Please... please don't hate me!'_

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **South Beach, Kids' Island,  
Destiny Islands;  
Launch Night;  
Sora:**

Checking the power levels for the umpteenth time, Sora nodded to himself in his seat on the Gummi ship, newly christened as the _Journey_ , courtesy of Kairi. As he had replaced the cockpit on the otherwise normal Kingdom model with a Big Bridge/G, the control room was significantly more spacious, able to comfortably seat seven- though he had never imagined when he would possibly need that many seats, before.

The hiss of the doors behind him alerted him to his friends arriving, Goofy and Donald's thrilling tour of the rooms of the Gummi ship- all three of them- apparently coming to an end. Sora spun in his chair and grinned at them. "All done? Whaddaya think?"

Tidus and Wakka expressed their deep desire to race in Gummi ships, drawing a laugh from the room. Riku, having seen the empty room full of futons and blankets they'd be staying in for the abnormally long flight, admitted half-heartedly that he wished he could still create corridors of darkness to travel, drawing a less easy laugh.

"Well, don't worry. It should just be this once- we usually don't spend much longer than eight hours on the ship, max, for any given trip. This is a special case," Sora explained, yet again.

Riku rolled his eyes and gestured dismissively. "I know, I know- geez, you sound like a broken record." He ambled over to the nearest seat and plopped down in it. "Think we can get on with this, though? The King is waiting on us, remember?"

Selphie pouted a bit, but gave Kairi a quick hug. "We'll get out of your hair, now. I'll miss you guys- again! Be safe out there, okay?"

Sora stood and nodded. "We'll come back, we promise!"

Donald chimed in, jabbing a feathered thumb into his chest, "And I'll make sure they do it in one piece!"

Riku nodded at his three friends that so often got the short end of the stick. "You guys get to go on the next world-saving adventure and we'll hang back on the Island, deal?"

Tidus and Wakka agreed, laughing, while Selphie turned slightly pale at the idea of traveling the stars with just those two knuckleheads.

More goodbyes were exchanged before Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka all left the ship, Sora telling the other four to strap in.

"Power- check. Support- check. Shields- check. Weapons- not that we'll need them, but check."

"Sora, don't forget the-"

"I know, I know, I checked the launch thrusters this morning!"

"I think Donald was gonna say, 'Don't forget the map'! It'd be bad if we started going the wrong way, a-hyuck!"

"Right, right, normally I don't have to worry about that until we're off-world, but with our resources... Nearest world, Olympus Coliseum- course set!"

Riku leaned forward in his seat, his brow furrowed. "Do you guys do this every time?"

Goofy turned to smile at him. "Only after big changes to the ship!"

Sora waved a hand idly as he continued to prep systems. "Which this qualifies as. Radar- check. Okay, I think we're good to go!"

Kairi wiggled in her seat, grinning. "I love this part- You better hold on, Riku!"

His eyebrow went up and asked, "What- why? What part is this?"

Sora didn't answer him right away, instead opting to carefully turn a dial and take hold of the flight sticks. The _Journey_ lurched as it lifted from the ground, rotating and pitching up to point at the sky. A notification appeared on the main window, _Pulse Drive_ , with a display that started counting down from five, a deep rumbling coming from the engines. Riku, sounding slightly panicked, repeated his question, only for Sora to grin and say- as the countdown reached zero- "LAUNCH!"

Two voices started screaming as the _Journey_ practically shot away from the ground, the sky rushing down to meet it, distorting around the edges of the ship as it catapulted itself off of Destiny Islands and into the vast, empty void. Riku was screaming mostly expletives, convinced that Sora had done that on purpose just to get to him- which wasn't entirely untrue- but Kairi was screaming for an entirely different reason. A huge grin spread over her face as she shrieked in exhilaration, loving every second. Sora glanced back at his two oldest friends, smiling at their reactions.

The velocity soon stabilized, the viewfinder showing a blank sky with nebulae and stars- worlds, as they now knew- in the distance. A slight tint of blue and pink and yellow streaming along the edges of the window were the only real indication that they were moving at all. Sora checked the power, pleased to see that it was still over the minimum amount they'd need to get to the Colosseum.

"Well, looks like we're home free, guys! And I think I underestimated the new engines- the computer says we should get there in under forty hours!" the brunette said, spinning in his chair and grinning at his friends.

"Great work, Sora," cried the diminutive but powerful court sorcerer.

"Yeah, that's a far cry better than the 'three days' bit you pulled yesterday," Riku admitted, after he had gotten over the abrupt and rather jarring launch.

Sora rolled his eyes and swivelled back to the console. "Yeah let's just move passed that, okay? My math isn't always perfect, _I know_."

He flinched slightly in surprise before relaxing into the slender arms that came around the back of his chair to wrap across his chair. A sweet voice Sora had been hearing in his dreams for years said next to his ear, "Everyone's impressed, silly! I knew you'd figure it out."

A smile ghosted across his face as he turned and caught her lips in a short, surprise kiss. He was just _so_ thankful for her- that she came to their Islands so long ago and accepted their weird boyness, that she kept him and Riku from strangling each other as they grew up. That she trusted him with her heart, and could recognise him even without his. That she trusted him to come back to her- came after him when she had the chance. And now she was sticking by him again, their hearts not quite one like before, yet still bound together- a situation he knew they both had willingly allowed to happen. All this and more, he was thankful to her for. And from their connection, he knew she could tell he wasn't just referring to her most recent comment when he looked into her eyes and muttered, "Thanks, Kairi."

Her face tried to match the shade of her hair admirably, but any attempt at appearing embarrassed was rather ruined by her grin. She kissed his nose playfully, clearly just as lost in the 'honeymoon phase' as he was- still giddy about the affirmation of their mutual feelings. Steeling herself, she cleared her throat lightly and smiled as she straightened up, leaving one hand on Sora's shoulder. "So! What do we do until we get there?"

Riku apparently took that as his cue. Standing, he stretched a moment before turning towards the door that lead to the lower levels where their barracks-like beds were. Waving behind him casually, his other hand in his pocket, he yawned out, "Wake me when we get there, I guess."

"What?!" Sora spun and stood from his chair, frowning at his oldest friend. "You're just gonna sleep for forty hours?!"

Riku paused and looked over his shoulder. "I don't know about you, but aside for the time since we got back to the Islands, I've slept like shit for- like- _two years_ , man. A good portion of that was watching over _your_ sleeping ass. Forgive me if I take what I can get, yeah?"

Sora chuckled, embarrassed. Rubbing the back of his head, he said, "Yeah, I guess you're right.. Sorry, Riku. We'll try to keep it down for ya!"

Another wave of his hand- likely in thanks- and Riku disappeared down the stairs, the doors sliding closed behind him.

All was quiet for a few moments, only the hum of the engines and the gentle beeping of the instruments before Kairi again voiced her question, prompting Sora to look over at Donald and Goofy as he sat back down. The brunette smirked a little, and said, "Well, there's still plenty of stories to tell if you wa-AH!"

Kairi neatly interrupted him by plopping down sideways in his lap, prompting Sora to instinctively put an arm under her back to keep her from falling. She smiled sweetly at his half-hearted glare, giving in to giggles when her boyfriend's glare was redirected to his snickering friends. "I'd love to hear some more stories, Sora. There's so much I wasn't around for and- if I'm honest- I wasn't really able to pay attention all the time when I _was_ with you. Your heart's kinda crowded, Sora!"

He gave her a look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kairi thought about it and shrugged. "I dunno! Just seemed like the right word to use. Anyway, the point is, I wanna know more about everything that happened!"

Sora looked up at Donald and Goofy, wondering if they had any stories they particularly wanted to share. Before he could really even ask, however, a memory presented itself and he grinned. "Well, how about the time we stopped history from being rewritten and the King's castle from being erased from existence?"

Kairi looked at him like he had grown a second head. "You... You're joking. _Tell me_ you're joking." At his continued grin, she looked over at Donald and Goofy, finding only more smirks. "Guys, he's joking, right? Come on, what's he talking about- what really happened?"

Sora laughed for a moment before starting, heedless of his girlfriend's shock. "Let's see... Well, I don't know all of the specifics, but somehow this mysterious door appeared in Maleficent's hideout..."

 **(~HJN~)**

 **I'M NOT DEAD!**

 **I've been struggling with creativity. I can't say it's a lack of ideas or a problem with my muse- honestly, it's just actually creating the product that has been the problem. But, after weeks of trickling out content, one little sentence at a time across several stories, I realized this chapter could be close to ending and decided 'FUCK IT, I NEED THIS.'**

 **So I threw on a bunch of inspiring music, ate probably more ice cream than I should have, and just fucking** _ **finished**_ **the damn thing. Shit, it feels like I so often just sit myself down and finish a chapter and afterwards I'm like "This is fuckin' easy, why have I been making such a fuss about this?!"**

 **And then like a week later it's hard again. Like seriously, what the fuck is this bullshit.**

 **Ugh.**

 **Anyway.**

 **I don't really know what to say, here. This story might actually be my LEAST popular fic I have, and yet it's the one I decided I needed to sit down and finish a chapter for. I know, priorities, right?**

 **Do me a favor, try to tell me what you think in twenty words or more. Seriously, one-to-six-word reviews do very little to actually inspire me to keep going, and they just waste your one shot to post a signed-in review on a chapter. I know this might sound callous, but I'd rather get less reviews overall than a bunch of ones that just say "great work, please update!"**

 **Sorry if I sound blunt, I'm just kind of pissed at myself for taking so long to post anything- AGAIN.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoied all the little plot and character developments- as well as the Naruto cliffhanger I totally left you guys on 'cause I'm an evil bastard.**

 **Ja ne~**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey! So, I'm not dead. I feel like I need to say that every update. Honestly, I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed with my own ideas. Story chapters are being written** _ **better**_ **than before, but still not very quickly, I feel. Still, super excited to get this chapter out. I have another chapter of** _ **Guardian Flames**_ **almost ready, but I think I'll put some work into** _ **Naruto: Spectral Power**_ **before I post that. Anyway, the Legend from last chapter worked really well, so I'll be sticking with it for now.**

Legend:  
"Speech" - Normal format double-quotes  
' _Thoughts'_ \- Italic single-quotes and text _  
_" **Inhuman Speech"** \- Bold double-quotes and text **  
**' _ **Inhuman Thoughts'**_ \- Bold, italic single-quotes and text **  
** _Emphasis_ \- Italic text  
 **Location;  
Timeframe; ** \- Bold scene/character change indicators. **  
Character:**  
[Mysterious Voice] - Bracketed Narration/voice-in-your-head from dark/light creatures  
 _[Memory]_ \- Italic, bracketed Memory/Vision/Story  
 _ **Rasengan**_ \- Bold, italic jutsu/technique/magic/effect

 **Enjoy~**

 **(~HJN~)**

 **En Route to Olympus Colosseum;  
38 Hours In-Flight;  
Kairi:**

"Sora, I want m-more..."

His impossibly blue eyes smiled at her, his lips locked on her breast. Her hips twitched on their own as his hand coaxed more and more heat from her core over her panties, and her breaths came in heated gasps. He had been teasing her like this for she-didn't-know-how-long.

She moaned out, "Sora, please..."

He pulled back, her pebble-like nipple slipping free with a wet pop, and whispered, "Kairi.."

She gasped as his fingers dug into the fabric, spreading her lips apart. "Haa, y-yes?"

"Kairi... Kairi..."

"Wh-what? What is it," she breathed, wishing he would just tear the last of her clothes away.

"Wake up."

"Wha..?"

Kairi's eyes popped open, which was disorienting when they had been open in her dream as well. She focused in on her boyfriend's face again, though this time his grin was distinctly less sexual. Struggling to get the image of those lips wrapped around her breast out of her mind, she groggily asked, "What, what's up?"

Oblivious to her dreams- ' _Thank goodness'_ \- Sora looked slightly above her and smirked a little softer before looking back into her eyes and announcing, "We're here! Get up and come to the bridge, we'll be warping through the barrier soon!"

 _That_ woke her up. As nice as it would be to roll over and enjoy her fantasy- or better yet, indulge in something with the man in front of her, a part of her kept suggesting- there wasn't time for that, and this was pretty exciting, too. Taking note of the wetness between her legs as she moved to sit up, she was glad for the dim light when heat bloomed in her cheeks. Distinctly more chipper and still slightly embarrassed, she smiled up at him and said, "Okay! Let me just use the bathroom and I'll be right up!"

"Sure! See you in a few," said Sora, leaning down and pecking her on the mouth before standing and rushing back up the stairs.

As she gathered a fresh change of clothes and padded quickly to the tiny bathroom, she quietly marveled at the electricity still lingering on her lips. To think that even after the many more kisses they had shared the last couple days, it still evoked such a reaction from her.

"I think I might be a little addicted..." she mumbled as she went to work on the process of making herself presentable, flinching when she saw her bed-head.

A scant few minutes later, she hopped up the steps only to pause and be amazed again at the sight of another _world_ out the window. Olympus Colosseum, in this case, looked like a shining golden temple sitting atop a dark and ghostly mountain- only it was upside-down.

"So wait, you have _set points_ where you can land?"

"Well, it's not exactly 'land'. We have a couple ways through the barrier, and then some safe zones on-world that the Gummi Ship links up with. We can beam down to those safe zones, and the Gummi Ship stays in orbit."

Riku scoffed. "That's lame," he said, grinning.

Sora scowled at him, and Kairi laughed. Instead of rising to the barb, however, Sora just stuck his tongue out at them and turned back to the viewscreen. "We've still got a way in, thankfully. Warping now."

The ship lurched slightly as the engines took them hurtling towards was what becoming a more and more opaque multicolored barrier. Shortly before it seemed like they would crash into it, a vortex opened through which they travelled briefly before being spat out the other side. Olympus Colosseum was _much_ closer now, taking up nearly the whole screen, and Sora pulled the ship into an orbit. Kairi watched with mild interest as he fiddled with a few more controls before spinning around in his chair. "Alright!" he said. "Let's go down and see Herc!"

Kairi nodded enthusiastically. She hadn't gotten much time to meet with the Olympus gang the first time. Though she was a little nervous to see Phil again after hearing about how much of a 'slave driver' he was with Sora's training.

It wasn't but a minute until the feeling of being transported with the Gummi's unique light enveloped her, only barely able to retain the feeling of Sora's hand in hers. And then she was looking around at the blue skies and opulent golden stonework of the courtyard outside the Colosseum. The blazing braziers caught her eye briefly before she found her boyfriend's grinning face.

Riku whistled to her right. "Man, I gotta say, this is already pretty cool."

Sora nodded at him and started heading towards the Colosseum entrance, Kairi being pulled along. "Every world I've been to has been pretty cool when I'm not fighting for my life- or someone else's!" he added, laughing. "Come on, let's go see how Hercules is doing! It's good to see the Colosseum all fixed up again- I wonder if Phil has any games running yet?"

Sora kept up his chatter for the minute it took to reach and climb the steps, and Kairi just let his exuberant tones wash through her, a smile on her face. He was a silly boy, but he was _her_ silly boy, and she wouldn't trade him for the world. ' _Any of them,'_ she thought to herself, giggling softly.

Riku, Donald and Goofy were following behind at a more sedate pace, and were at the bottom of the steps when Sora threw the doors open and yelled, "I'm back!"

A short, reddish goat-man turned away from the hall connecting the lobby with the arena and did a comical double-take. He rubbed his eyes with tiny fists and yelled, "Sora! I was wonderin' when you's was gonna show up here again! Where's them other two knuckleheads Donald and Goofy- and who's _this_ daughter o' Aphrodite 'erself?" he asked, taking Kairi's unoccupied hand and leaning up to kiss it, making her break into laughter.

"A-hyuck! We're right here, Phil!" Goofy said, stepping into the lobby benind Donald, Riku looking around at the empty shelves.

Sora chuckled and gestured to his first friends. "These are my friends, Kairi and Riku, two other Keyblade wielders. It's good to see you, Phil, and good to see the Colosseum in one piece! How's Herc doing?"

Phil waves his hand at him dismissively. "Never better! I've got 'im in the arena right now, doin' drills, getting ready for the Games. You's gonna participate, right?"

Sora started nodding enthusiastically, but then paused and got a cute, thoughtful look. "Uhhh, maybe. We're kinda expected somewhere else soon. We just stopped by to say hello, and to uh..." he trailed off for some reason, Kairi wasn't sure why.

Until Donald picked it up, that is. "Resupply our vessel!"

Sora grinned and pointed at him. "Yeah, that's it!"

Kairi made eye contact with Riku to see if he had come to the same conclusion that she had, and saw a warning look in his eye. So, it seemed everyone else was aware that their method of transportation was a secret, probably also their origins. Why didn't anybody tell her? Did it just slip their minds? Possibly. Lately, they had all been talking quite candidly with each other, even around Selphie, Tidus and Wakka.

Regardless, and despite the somewhat suspicious behavior, Phil just shrugged. "Well, ya can't win all the trophies, can ya?"

Sora rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "Ha, I guess not!" He took a moment to look around the lobby and said, "So where _are_ all those trophies, anyway? They survived the attack, didn't they?"

Phil turned and waved for them to follow him down the hall, saying, "We finished rebuilding, but I'm still redecorating, if ya know what I mean. This place still has a ways to go before we can host anymore Games. I've got yer awards stored away, and I've been thinkin' about another place ta put 'em, make some room in the lobby for future tournaments."

Sora nodded as they exited the hall into an open-roofed arena. "Makes sense, I guess."

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Sora, Donald and Goofy," said a silky, husky feminine tone that immediately grabbed Kairi's attention. The impossibly voluptuous Megara sashayed over from the stands where she was sitting, smiling at them. "And Kairi, didn't expect to see you again. Found your boys, I see."

The redhead giggled. "Yep! Not letting them out of my sight again!"

Meg laughed behind her hand and said, "I hope not. Out of sight tends to be where boys get in the most trouble."

"Hey!" yelled Sora.

Riku stepped forward and shrugged. "Well, she's not exactly wrong."

Sora turned to him and frowned. "It's still not very nice..."

Riku laughed the laugh of a man whose best friend was a thick-headed goofball. He clapped his hand on Sora's' shoulder and steered him towards the tall, muscular man currently making confetti out of training dummies. "Come on, Sora. Introduce me to this friend of yours."

Kairi made to follow them, but a hand on her shoulder brought her attention to Meg, the much taller woman leaning down to smile into her face. "Hey! We didn't get much time to talk last time you were here. How 'bout we let the boys beat each other up for a bit?" Something of Kairi's opinion on that must have shown on her face, because Meg chuckled. "You can go play in the dirt with them later, don't worry. I'm sure Phil will be breaking them up to test Sora again eventually, anyway."

Blushing slightly at how obvious it apparently was that Kairi sometimes enjoyed being 'one of the boys', she still smiled and agreed to join Meg on the stands, watching Riku meet Herc and the subsequent 'rematch' Hercules had told Kairi to ask Sora for. The girls, meanwhile, had started talking about the boys in their lives, trading dumb stories. After only a few dozen minutes, Kairi came to a rather interesting realization: Megara and Hercules were definitely in love with each other. Like, summoning-the-two-backed-beast sort of in love, which brought a rather pink line across her face.

Knowing that she might be jumping to conclusions- all she had were the way Meg talked about the Olympian and the looks she gave him- she smoothly asked, "So, how did you and Herc hook up?"

Meg gave her a shrewd smirk. "Don't think you're clever, we haven't been hiding it. I know about you and Sora, too- you're pretty obvious."

The pink line expanded, and Kairi smiled to herself. Feeling a little self-conscious, not to mention thrown-off by Meg's confidence, she responded with, "Well, it's still new. Like, not even a week.."

A laugh from Meg made her look up. The woman smiled with a knowing look. "It may have only been a few days with a name, but I can tell you two have been wanting this for ages. I see it in the way you carry yourselves."

Kairi nodded, and as she confessed to having harbored feelings for him for years, they were interrupted by a bright flash of light and a sound sort of like breaking glass. This was accompanied by a faint, familiar but unnamed sensation in her chest, a sort of _fastness_. Looking towards the arena, she saw Sora's clothes had changed to a red theme, and a second Keyblade- a thick one with a rose motif, by the looks of it- had appeared in his left hand.

"I thought you couldn't do that on your own?" Now that she was paying attention, she could hear what they were saying, and Hercules sounded very surprised.

Sora grinned. "I couldn't, last time you saw me."

Kairi shook her head in slight exasperation. Using his _**Drive**_ had a habit of slightly altering his personality in unpredictable ways. According to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, any number of aspects could be enhanced- or not enhanced at all- but certain Forms tended to lean towards certain facets. Seven times out of ten, using Valor Form made him more aggressive or cocky, as seemed to be the case here.

Kairi watched in awe, nonetheless, as Sora burst from his position, Keyblades crossed, and launched at Hercules, who held the two blades at bay with his own sword. They clashed a few times before Sora got a hit in, and what a hit it was! A spinning upward slash knocked Herc's arm aside, giving Sora the opening he needed for what would prove to be a devastating combo. Four quick swipes followed by a left-armed stab knocked Herc back a few feet, Sora chasing him with almost the same motion. Leaping up, Sora reversed his right grip and 'grabbed' Herc by his shoulder with the teeth of Oathkeeper. Doing a mid-air backflip, he pulled the demigod up above him, propelling himself back to the ground, though he didn't stay there long. Barely touching down, he shot back up into the sky, Keyblades flashing and cutting glowing lines in the air with their power. An aerial combo tossed Herc around for a moment before Sora used the teeth of the rose Keyblade- she didn't know the name- to maneuver himself above Hercules again, a powerful cross-slash with both Keyblades sending him crashing back to the ground and scattering flame-like Light everywhere. Sora landed a few yards away, placing Oathkeeper over his shoulder in his usual ready stance for Valor.

Hercules got up easily enough, though Kairi's new _**Scan**_ ability told her that he had just taken a heck of a beating. "You should've warned me you wanted to get serious, Sora!" Herc yelled, tossing his sword aside. Kairi was a little confused until a golden glow seemed to surround the demigod, and she felt the sudden pressure of power that filled the arena. Hercules assumed a ready stance of some kind, and smirked at Sora. "Let's see how you do when I'm not holding back!"

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **South Crater, Konoha;  
Heartless Invasion, Hour 8, Minute 20;  
Uzumaki Naruto:**

" _ **Rasengan Strike**_!" A spinning blue ball of destructive energy slammed into the shield of a top-heavy creature, breaking its guard and allowing Naruto's Keyblade- the end of which was holding said jutsu- to thrust into the monster's chest. From there, Naruto followed with a few more stabs and slashes, taking advantage of the opening he had created. The creature suddenly burst, dispersing into thousands of tiny black sparkles and wisps of smoke, a glowing heart-shaped... _thing_ vanishing into the sky with its dismissal.

None of this was new for Naruto. It seemed only extremely powerful jutsu were capable of releasing those 'hearts' unless they were destroyed by the Keyblade, which made them appear without fail. The meaning or purpose behind this was unclear; the monsters seemed to be driven back regardless, so he didn't pay it much mind.

Turning to face the next invader, he watched for a moment as Hinata got there first, her long hair floating gracefully in the air as she threw line after line of her enhanced _**Juuken**_ through the wolf-like being. Tearing himself away from the sight, he moved to cover her back, proceeding to take out a monster that was about to ambush her.

Not that he didn't think she wasn't aware of it and probably prepared- she had her _**Byakugan**_ active, after all- but aside from just being good teamwork, he was feeling... a little more protective of her. It had been almost an hour since they had gotten back in the fight, and neither of them had yet to sustain any further injuries- mostly due to each other. It would be nice, he felt, if they could keep it that way.

Earlier, Naruto had had the thought that it was strange, the way they worked together. One would think Naruto would have more battlefield chemistry with Sakura, but she had her hands full helping Shizune try to cure those who had been overcome by the creatures. The fact was, though- and this was what brought Naruto to this line of thought in the first place- that he and Hinata _flowed_. With only a few shouted words here and there, they were consistently building off of each other's attacks and movements.

For instance, the red-plated black samurai-creature they had just started targeting: they had fought these before, and had quickly- and almost silently- devised a strategy for eliminating them. The extra-long sword it carried was a ruse- it was much faster and more maneuverable than it seemed, and its back was heavily armored. The only weak point was the thorned heart-shaped crest on its chest, and the sword was supernaturally on guard. Naruto would draw its attention and begin clashing with it, keeping it from using the sword's length effectively. Meanwhile, Hinata shot her 'chakra lines'- he really needed to ask her what she called those- _between his movements_ , managing to predict his actions and attack the creature from behind the blonde. When it was close to death, this type of creature went into a rage, a red aura coming off of its armor, and begin a wild and unpredictable sword combo. Naruto would jump back next to Hinata, and she would create a protective grid with her chakra lines- the _**Shugohakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms)**_ \- around them, weathering the onslaught while Naruto charged a _**Rasengan**_. Once the creature's initial volley ended, Hinata would release her technique and Naruto would drive his into the samurai's chest, ending it.

Again, this was a strategy they had developed and used consistently since their _second_ encounter.

Now knowing a bit about how much Hinata used to watch him from afar, he figured some degree of their teamwork was probably because she just _knew_ him so well. He had joked to himself once that she was probably the only person who could predict the next move of 'Konoha's #1 Unpredictable Ninja'. But that didn't explain the times when he anticipated _her_ movements. When he, in the heat of battle, shifted to the side to allow her to rush forward with a palm strike. When he lashed out without really looking to deflect a creature's arm or weapon when he knew Hinata wasn't ready for it.

So yes, it was a bit strange, the level of teamwork they had. He knew that. But it wasn't like he cared. She's a strong fighter, an even stronger person, and he wasn't lying when he told her that he would rather have her by his side out here than anyone else.

Now, more than ever.

"Look out!"

Naruto looked behind him where the cry came from- he didn't recognise the voice- and saw one of the biggest kind of the black creatures they had yet seen coming in his direction.

A 20-foot-long, 8-foot-tall centipede with blue and yellow highlights all over its black body, the black and red crest 90% of the monsters seemed to carry on its head. Each of its countless legs were more like blades, and it had a habit of rolling up into a ball and mowing people down at high speeds. Some of the shinobi had started calling it a Killer Creeper.

Naruto groaned and yelled out, "Get back!" to the surrounding shinobi, running towards the rampaging beast. He could hear Hinata running behind him, and smiled a little to himself. She really was serious, before- she wasn't leaving his side again. "Go low!" he yelled to her just before they reached the Killer Creeper. Jumping up, he flipped forward, pushing the momentum into his strike as he landed on the thing's head. Flourishing his Keyblade, Naruto started hacking at the joint between the head and the rest of the body. Even amongst the sound of battle all over Pain's crater- the last unsafe zone in Konoha- he heard Hinata's many _iai_ as she started assaulting the creature's legs. He could tell, from the sound, that she was making her way along the length of the thing, likely spinning and striking out at the joints repeatedly.

The Killer Creeper, of course, wasn't happy with this. Rearing up on its back half, it tried to shake Naruto off, but that was a mistake. Naruto dug his fingers into the gaps between its armor plates as Hinata reached the legs it was now supporting itself on. Rushing through, she struck each one in rapid succession, dashing out from under it as it collapsed under its own weight. The front half started to fall, and Naruto let go, pushing off to stay in the air for a moment and let it get some distance from him. He then started falling and brought his Keyblade down on its back, slicing through the thing and landing on the ground.

The Creeper got back to its many feet, clearly not done, and immediately rolled into a ball, speeding away and bowling over a few shinobi before it looped around and came after Hinata and Naruto.

Naruto met her eyes and they both nodded, a plan passing between them easily. They split up, Hinata throwing a few chakra lines at the beast to draw its attention. It chased her, and she led it in a circle while Naruto summoned a clone. Together, they formed an _**Oodama Rasengan**_ , which they delivered to the Killer Creeper's unprotected side as soon as Hinata had maneuvered into place. Toppling onto its side and uncurling, it fell fully on its back, legs writhing in the air while Hinata conjured a lion's head around her fist. Dashing forward with a yell, she drove her palm into the creature's face, a blast of chakra coming out the other end.

In a flash of black and purple sparks and smoke, the beast vanished.

Naruto looked around, seeing that most of the fighting had ended. Only scattered enemies remained, most of them of a smaller, common variety. He let himself have a breath, Hinata coming up to his side where they exchanged smiles. "Looks like we might actually take this place back."

She nodded. "Hai. This place was once s-so full of creatures, you couldn't even walk, and they k-kept appearing even as we cleared them out."

"But now, they aren't even appearing anymore. In fact, they're _disappearing_!" he said, grinning. Then he realized what he said, and frowned. "Wait, what?"

All over the battlefield, the stragglers were vanishing in a dark portal back to where they came from, one after another, leaving shinobi looking around in confusion.

Hinata gasped. "Th-they only do that when they m-make a new type!"

Naruto nodded, tightening the grip on his Keyblade. "I know... And with _all_ of them vanishing like this..."

A huge rumble shook the area, knocking many shinobi to the ground. In the center of the crater, a huge pool of spiraling blackness started appearing, roughly 40 feet in diameter. Most of the shinobi managed to get away from it, but a few got trapped in the dark vortex, screaming as they sunk into the darkness. A beat later, a colossal dark red arm rose from the pool, pulling a truly massive creature seemingly out of the ground. With it, a thick wave of killer intent blanketed the crater, pure rage filling the area.

Naruto's eyes widened and he almost took a step back. "What... what is this thing? None of the others have felt like this! This is just..."

"Malice..." Hinata whispered, struck with the same level of disbelief as he.

'Malice' was right, as the thing fully emerged and the black vortex faded, they got their first real look at the scale of the thing. It had the head of a boar, though severely more evil-looking, and its skin was a dark red. It wore a deep purple haori and black umanori hakama pants. At a guess, it was around 80 feet high, and covered in an ominous black aura. A cleaver-like blade hung at its waist, and it roared as it fully appeared.

" **GRWOOAAA!"**

Naruto and Hinata winced, crying out in surprise and pain at the sound. Naruto recovered first, looking up in dread before gasping in fear.

 ***CLAP***

The giant boar-man brought its four-pronged hands together as if in prayer... and then again, in a handsign.

"No.." Naruto whispered, unable to do anything but watch as the giant passed through several more signs, each one dropping another stone into Naruto's stomach.

Finally it landed on the Tiger seal, before bringing one hand up to make a circle in front of its mouth. The beast took in a huge amount of air, its already round belly doubling in size, reminding Naruto of Shukaku.

"NO!"

But if he thought he could do anything to stop it, it was too late. Fire streamed from the mouth of 'Malice' and struck the shinobi forces on the ground, all of them too struck with fear and shock to react fast enough. But it didn't stop there- the screams of their comrades jolted the rest of them into action, but Malice turned its giant head and brought the stream of fire around to completely destroy even more shinobi.

As it turned away from them and the fire died out, Naruto idly noted that it had the creatures' emblem on the back of its haori, and more actively noted that _he needed_ **Sage Mode**.

Fighting passed the killer intent and focusing on his next move, he turned to his constant companion and said, "Hinata, I hate to say this- I mean I really, _really_ hate to do this- but you need to go help fight- distract- that thing! We need _**Sage Mode**_ , I've got to-"

"No!" Naruto blinked at the _fury_ on Hinata's face. "I'm not leaving your side, remember?! You want th-that thing distracted? It seems p-pretty busy to me! There are many other s-strong people over there fighting it right now- Lee-san, Kakashi-sensei, Kiba-kun- I can s-see them all coordinating to take it on! _You_ ," she said, pointing her finger at him, "are going to the edge of the crater t-to do whatever it is y-you need to do. And _I_ am g-going to stand next to you, m-making sure no more creatures sh-show up to interrupt you!"

Naruto blinked again at her ferocity, surprised and impressed every time she showed it. Happiness welling up inside him despite the situation, he was easily swayed. "Okay," he said, smiling. "Let's go then, dattebayo!"

She nodded and followed him as he took off, looking serious but no longer frowning, and Naruto couldn't help but recall how he had agreed to their new... situation.

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **East Safe Zone, Konoha;  
Heartless Invasion, Hour 3, Minute 35;  
Uzumaki Naruto:**

"Let me do this... l-let me be that p-person for you..."

Hinata looked down and screwed her eyes shut, leaving Naruto with his mouth agape. ' _She's... she's serious?'_

It was all he could think, for a moment. Sure, he had teammates, a few friends, people he could trust. It wasn't like it was, not by a long shot. But _this_? Hinata was seriously saying that she wanted to be his _partner_. Like. Life partner. And battle partner, and just generally be by his side _forever_.

That sounded an awful lot like a marriage proposal, which might have freaked him out just slightly, so he moved passed that thought and focused on the less distant future.

Specifically, this invasion they were pushing back. Which, he could honestly say without feeling boastful, was only going as well as it was due to the two of them. ' _I mean, sure, all the Hyuuga have been really important against these things, but Hinata...'_ Hinata had, years ago, developed a new type of _**Juuken**_. It was, from what he had gleaned by watching, a close- to mid-range fighting style involving the sharpening and narrowing of the _**Juuken**_ 's chakra-filled palm strikes into... well, these lines that kinda flew through the air. They were a bit like really long, glowing needles, actually. And these 'chakra lines' could decimate small and average-sized creatures from a safer distance than the fighting style of her clanmates. The way she bent and spun and swung around, it was really cool with those lines flying from her palms and fingers, some piercing, others slicing through the monsters. They could even be used defensively, which pretty much convinced Naruto that they were the coolest things _ever_ , and that Hinata was kind of a badass.

And as for him, well. The Keyblade certainly had something to do with it, as well as his proficiency with the _**Rasengan**_ and his colossal chakra reserves.

But back to the matter at hand, he suddenly realized that she was technically asking him a question. Which meant he needed to give her an answer.

Which. Was harder than she probably thought.

Thing is, Naruto _wanted_ what she was asking for. How could he not, they were like, the most badass duo since the first two Hokage! Plus, he genuinely liked her, had fun the few times they had hung out- though she could be a little weird at times, for reasons he was now at least partially aware of. She was really cute- _beautiful_ , even, and he didn't use that word lightly- and apparently she _really_ liked him; so, you know, obviously she has good taste.

So. He wanted her by his side- was even wanting to try it out to the degree she was implying- so he should probably say yes, right?

Except it was too dangerous.

Too dangerous for her, too dangerous for Sakura-chan- he had realized this shortly before confronting Nagato. After fighting his remote bodies- Pain, he couldn't stop thinking of it that way- Naruto had, very quietly and easily, decided that nobody needed to be involved in a fight with that scale of power but him. He could get through it, he could- through overwhelming brute force and a not insignificant measure of dumb luck- survive that sort of opponent. Not Ero-sennin, not Kakashi-sensei, _him_. If other people were involved, they'd do the same noble but stupid thing Hinata had- try to protect him or each other, and get themselves hurt.

Make no mistake, Naruto wasn't jaded, nor was he acting arrogantly. That was just what _always happened_.

Purposefully putting his life in danger for someone he cared about- hell, sometimes for complete strangers- was not something he was exactly foreign to. Having someone care about him enough to do the same... well, his experience with that sort of thing never went well. Rarely, when they were younger, Sasuke would do something like that and usually end up in the hospital or something for a month, after which any sentimentality the act might have generated just evaporated. A couple times, he thought the asshole had died trying to protect him, leading Naruto to go on what he now knew was a Kyuubi-powered rampage. It seemed like any time _he_ risked his life for someone, he came out of it fine. Sore, but generally fine.

Any time somebody else tried to return the favor, though, they either die, almost-die, or suffer some other grievous wound that makes them hate him again.

So no, the easy answer _wasn't_ 'yes'. The easy answer, in fact, was 'no way, you're too important, I can't let you get hurt'. A little overdramatic, but there you go.

' _Why aren't I saying that, then?'_

Because, again, he _wanted_ to say yes. More and more, as the seconds slowly ticked by, he really wanted it. And he couldn't make up his mind, the reasons to say 'yes' cancelled out the reasons to say 'no', and vice-versa. He needed more reasons.

"Wh... why?"

Hinata jerked in place, probably startled. She seemed to open her eyes, though didn't look up yet. "Wh-what?"

Naruto's brow furrowed as he, too, stared at his hand in hers. "I mean... I don't know what I mean. You could- _will_ \- get hurt. Like, really hurt. I guess... why do you want that?"

Hinata was silent for a long moment. Naruto was starting to regret asking, thinking she had realized her mistake and was changing her mind. Her head slowly rose up, her ultra-pale lavender eyes wide in... Naruto couldn't identify an emotion that made sense. Maybe surprise? "Naru...to...-kun..." She spoke slowly, speaking each word deliberately. "I. Want... To be. W-with you."

It was a pregnant pause before Naruto realized that was her only answer. And it was another few seconds after that before the impact of it really hit him. ' _It's not that she wants to be there to protect me... She just wants to be next to me? More than anything, more than she wants to be healthy, comfortable, or safe, she just wants to...'_ "Be with me?"

Hinata nodded, slowly at first but soon more insistent. There must have been some form of understanding on his face, because there was a glimmer of hope on hers. "H-hai... It doesn't m-matter if it's a f-fight or a-anything else... I-I w-want to d-do it together..."

Naruto could feel his face heat up, and the scales tip in favor of saying 'yes'. And then, in an instant, he realized how much of an idiot he was being. Hinata was a kunoichi! Of _course_ she's going to be in danger- what did he expect? Now that he was growing to care for her so much, was she expected to just _not_ fight? He felt like hitting himself- he knew if Sakura were here she'd do it for him, tell him just how much of a dumbass he was. For goodness' sake, he had _just_ finished thinking about how awesome Hinata was!

Hinata wasn't asking him to let her give her life for him- no doubt she didn't feel the need to get his permission for that. No, Hinata was asking him to let her do what she was going to do anyway- fight, survive, be happy, _live_ \- and do it _with him_!

Naruto resisted the urge to laugh at his own thick-headedness, lest it be taken the wrong way. Instead, he gave Hinata a simple smile, watching her eyes fill with anticipation. "Together, huh," he started, bringing his other hand up and turning on the bench to face her a little more directly. While his right hand was held in both of hers, he wrapped his left on top, squeezing gently and making her gasp. "You know... That is.. the _best_ idea I've heard all day," he finished, smile transforming into a wide grin.

The joy overtaking surprise on Hinata's face was second only to the tackle-hug she gave him afterwards.

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **Olympus Colosseum;  
Sora:**

Waving one last time to Herc and the others, Sora and co. left the arena, going down the hall back to the lobby. He wasn't leading the march, as he usually would, still favoring his left ankle until they got back to the ship, where it would heal. Herc had done a real number on him after he got serious, but Sora could limp tall knowing he still managed to come out on top in their spar. He and Kairi had then shown Riku- and Donald, though the court wizard was only mildly interested- how Kairi had cast _**Blizzard**_ through her Keyblade as a strike attack. After seeing her fight briefly, Phil had demanded she go through some training exercises. 'Too much talent there ta let her go untrained,' he had said. After almost an hour, Goofy had come and told them that the ship was ready, which meant it was time to go.

Walking in the middle of the group had an unexpected benefit, however: he got to watch his girlfriend's hips as she walked ahead of him. Not that he was _trying_ to perv on her or anything, honest! It just... she was nice to look at, and he didn't get many opportunities to just observe her moving and...

And now he was sounding creepy even in his own head. Great. At least they were in the lobby now, Donald and Goofy headed towards the Safe Point in the corner, the place where the connection between this safe zone and the Gummi Ship was strongest. Sora moved to follow them, Riku already asking the little wizard how it worked, when Kairi grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face her. He was about to ask- probably pretty loudly, which he'd realize in a second would have been bad- what she was doing, but the smirk on her face shut him up.

"I saw that, mister," she said, her voice low and teasing.

He immediately felt sweat bead on the back of his neck. Laughing nervously, he avoided eye contact and said, "Wha, what do you mean?"

But Kairi just knew him too well. His totally innocent, normal, discrete, hormone-driven actions were, as it turned out, not so discrete. "You were staring at my butt, weren't you?"

He flushed, he knew he did. Unfortunately, as was usually the case with this sort of thing, his knee-jerk reaction was to DENY EVERYTHING. "Wh-what? No! I wasn't looking at your butt, and I _certainly_ wasn't staring at you while you were going through Phil's training!" Her eyebrow went up and his brain finally caught up to his mouth. "Uh, I mean-"

"Yes you were."

Sora and Kairi both turned to look at Riku, who was standing there with his hand on his hip, looking every bit as amused as the chuckleduck and gigglegoof behind him- in his own Riku way, at any rate. "The whole time. I was actually trying to talk to you at first, but I gave up halfway through because you were just _so entranced_."

To Sora's ever-growing horror, this just sent Kairi into laughter, as well. Thankfully, she regained enough composure to respond rather quickly. "You guys go on ahead, we'll be right there. I've got to have a talk with Mr. Thunderstruck over here." Though she said this with a smile, the words still sent a chill down Sora's spine.

Riku turned around and waved his arm above his head in farewell. "Sure, sure. Just don't be too harsh on him, we still need him to fly the ship," he said, disappearing afterwards in a flash of multicolored light, Donald and Goofy waving and vanishing as well.

Kairi watched them go with a smile, but when her eyes were on him again, she frowned. Sora thought he could guess why. "Sora, don't look so much like a kicked puppy! I'm not upset!" And, his guess was wrong. Well.

"You're not?" he asked, only cautiously optimistic.

"Of course not! I mean, I _might_ be if you don't stop pouting," she added in what he knew was a teasing voice, a smile back on her face. He allowed himself to relax a bit and stare at her curiously. She rolled her eyes at him and said, "Sora, you're _allowed_ to look at me. At anything, anywhere, at any time." This just confused him further, didn't girls kinda hate that? She sighed, "Sora, let me explain something to you that- _some_ how- it seems you've missed: I'm your girlfriend."

She said it in such a slow way, he thought she might still be making fun of him, though the cute blush on her cheeks easily mitigated any frustration. Still, "Well, I knew _that_!"

She nodded, smiling. "Which makes you my boyfriend, right? Come on, Sora, this isn't rocket science! Being allowed to stare at my butt or my boobs-" she and Sora both blushed hard at that, though her voice was steady, "- is, like, privilege number _one_ for boyfriends! I'm not upset that you were looking- in fact, I'm _happy_ that you are. It... well, it m-makes me feel like I'm pretty..."

She looked mildly self-conscious suddenly, looking away from him a little, which put red flags up in Sora's head. Nope. No way, he was _not_ letting her get this idea about herself. Time to nip this one in the bud.

He took her left hand in both of his and pressed her palm to his chest, sort of over his heart. She gasped and met his eyes, then seemed to get... lost a little. Which, okay, made him blush a lot, but he was already doing that with what he was planning to say. "Kairi... You _are_ pretty. Like, _too_ pretty." He could feel his mouth starting to run away from his brain again, but decided to trust it, for now. "Honestly, you're b-beautiful, you're really cute when you sleep, and I'm pretty sure you could seduce me in a snowsuit. Heheh," he chuckled and took his left hand away to rub his upper lip, embarrassed, but refusing to break eye contact. Kairi's eyes, already wide, flickered between his face and her hand, still held to his chest. Taking a breath, Sora took a step closer and closed his eyes. "Let me show you..." He felt the edge of his heart, finding their connection easily. It... was almost _pulsing_ at the moment, and he focused on opening it up further and letting her feel what he felt about her.

It happened all at once, Sora and Kairi both gasping in unison as their link opened by their will for the second time. Sora, focusing as he was on making her feel what he thought of her, could only get vague impressions from her side. She seemed shocked, a little overwhelmed... enormously happy. He gave her everything, surprised again and again at how easily it all flowed like this; his admiration, his infatuation, how he loved the way her eyes twinkled when she smiled, his respect for her. It got away from him a bit, he felt his heart showing her just how much he wanted her, in every way possible, and he tried to rein it in when Kairi squeaked and seemed to stumble, coming a little closer.

She must have sensed this, though, as her breathless voice reached him, "N-no, don't- don't hide..." His eyes popped open as she grabbed his left hand and placed it on her chest, almost hugging it between her breasts. And suddenly there was a rush, the connection opening ever wider, her feelings rushing past his own and reaching him more clearly. He felt every emotion, every desire and need that he, himself, was struggling with reflected from her. She wanted him too, needed him, _loved him_ with exactly the same intensity he had for her. Like the first time, her feelings made him feel his own that much harder, intensifying the emotions he was transmitting and boosting her up in a positive feedback loop. Just as it seemed to be reaching some sort of crescendo- a flash of something, maybe a dream, coming from Kairi- he couldn't hold it anymore, tearing their arms aside so he could wrap her up tightly, pressing his lips to hers needfully.

They kissed, passion passing between them in a different medium, now. He let their connection relax as he fulfilled his need of her, her hands following invisible paths along his back and head, Sora totally unaware of what his own hands were doing to satisfy this mood they had unintentionally worked each other into. She whimpered into his mouth, and he breathed heavily, almost groaning as they pressed tighter to each other.

Finally, when breathing became too difficult, too hot, they broke apart, eyes catching, faces flushed. They both breathed heavily, Sora feeling Kairi twitch and tremble every now and then. He breathed her name, "Kairi," and took stock of what the heck had just happened. If she responded, he didn't hear it- he was too focused on where their hands had ended up.

Kairi's were in rather simple, though plenty intimate places. Her left arm draped over his shoulder and hooked behind his neck, her hand was pressed flat against his back. Her right hand was gripping his left bicep tightly, which is what led to his rather distracting discovery.

While his right hand was on her upper back, his left had found its way _much_ further down. Not only was he holding her by her butt, but a few of his fingers had managed to hike up her dress slightly and slide beneath it, digging softly into the, ahem... _soft_ flesh there.

Judging by the look in Kairi's eye, she knew, and she knew that he knew. "Uhh, s-sorry," he said, carefully shifting his hand to her hip, instead.

She moved it back, though. Like, slid her hand down his arm and dragged his hand back to her ass, calm as could be. Red as hell, but smiling. When his face sufficiently resembled a fish, she giggled and just said, "Boyfriend privileges."

He gave in and chuckled with her, accepting that he was just going to have to get used to this playful girlfriend of his. He kissed her again, calmer this time, their connection returned to its dormant state, a faint sensation at the edge of his heart. "I love you, Kairi."

She twitched, then grinned. "I love you too... You know, we hadn't really said it out loud, yet."

He thought for a moment, and realized she was right. Tilting his head, he said, "I guess not... What's your point, though? We both knew, already, right?"

She shook her head. "No point, just something I noticed. You're right, though," she added, leaning up and pecking his lips before continuing. "We've definitely known for a while..." she finished in a whisper.

Standing there in the Lobby of the Olympus Colosseum, they kissed again, their last one before they would rejoin their friends on the _Journey_ and head for Disney Castle.

Indeed, it would be their last one until they were on solid ground again, as a surprise was waiting for them on the ship in the form of an urgent transmission from Chip and Dale.

The alert for an incoming message went off, startling Sora, as he had turned communications off on Destiny Islands to conserve power. Donald or Goofy must have flipped them and the other auxiliary functions back on once the ship was fully charged.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy! We've been trying to reach you for hours!"

"Where've ya been?!"

Sora put the video feed up on the main screen, the chipmunk gearhead brothers jumping up and down energetically. "Sorry guys, we've been having power issues, but they're all fixed, now. What's up?"

Chip suddenly hopped to the side and started punching away at one of the computer terminals in their command station. "The Land of Dragons is in trouble!"

Dale took over while his brother worked, "We found a cloud of darkness covering it a few hours ago, and all of a sudden a bunch of worlds shifted- The World Map is starting over again!"

Sora leaned forward in his seat, his hands gripping the console. "What?! Again?! W-well what about The Land of Dragons, how are we supposed to help them?"

"We were able to keep a lock on them and a few other worlds during the shift, but not very many-"

Chip spoke up just as he was finishing. "I'm sending you updated data for the new World Map! The Land of Dragons should still be pretty close to you-"

Sora was already punching the new coordinates into the navigator. "Got it. We'll be there, don't worry!"

"Be careful, Sora!" Dale said before the connection was ended.

"Buckle in, everyone- Disney Castle will have to wait!" That was the only real warning he gave before the _Pulse Drive_ was primed. He threw the lever forward, the _Journey_ rocketing off through space, the usual multi-colored streams of light crowding the edge of the main screen.

Once their course was set and the ship stabilized, Sora unbuckled and got out of his seat, turning to face his friends. Donald had an aggressive, serious look on his face, while Goofy seemed worried- which was nothing new, actually. Riku was staring at one of the screens near him displaying their target, The Land of Dragons, covered in an aura of darkness, with a grim expression. Kairi seemed anxious, but determined. Good.

"We'll be there in less than ten minutes- since the worlds are shifting again, we might not have a quick way through the barrier, and with it overrun like this, any Gummi Routes will be swarming with enemies."

Donald turned to say to Riku and Kairi, "You guys should pack anything you need to fight on you before we get there."

Riku patted his pocket and said, "Got it covered."

Sora turned back to the console as he said, "Oh yeah, and it snows a lot in The Land of Dragons, so be ready for that."

He heard Kairi gasp and stand up. "Well, then I should probably put on stockings or something... Oh man, I hope I packed m..." Her voice faded away as she left the room, going downstairs to change.

Sora chuckled to himself despite the situation, running checks on the weapons and various other battle systems.

 **(~Hearts~)**

 **South Crater, Konoha;  
Heartless Invasion, Hour 9, Minute 10;  
Hyuuga Hinata:**

 _ **Byakugan**_ active, it wasn't too difficult to watch the fight against Malice from the edge of the crater. The thing was truly massive, but that wasn't the reason it scared her, nor was it the aura of killing intent it put off. Rather, it was the way it looked to her clan's special eyes. The other dark creatures were like black spots that she could just barely see through; transparent silhouettes. Malice was _solid_ , and had something none of the other monsters did: a chakra network. It was... malformed, and possibly incomplete, but it was there nonetheless.

She could see the many other chakra sources around it, her friends, comrades, and family fighting the thing with everything they had. So far, no other creatures had appeared since Malice crawled its way out of the ground, but that made little difference; Malice was quite capable of dealing with the veritable _army_ of shinobi around it. So far, it had displayed _**Katon**_ , _**Suiton**_ , and _**Doton**_ jutsu, one technique of each variety, and its sheer size made up for the very slow swings it made with the butcher's knife-like sword it carried.

Having her _**Byakugan**_ active had the added benefit of being able to watch Naruto steadily take in, mold, and mix Nature Energy with his own Physical and Spiritual Energies. It was fascinating, watching a third element be introduced to the well-known structure of chakra. He had two _**Kage Bunshin**_ out at the moment, one sitting next to him also making Sage Chakra, and the other wielding a copy of the Keyblade, helping Hinata keep watch. It would remain behind with the other clone when she and Naruto finally joined the fight, and both would dispel when Naruto needed more Sage Chakra.

Focusing on Malice, she held in a gasp as she saw one of its tenketsu- low on the left leg- close. Focusing on that area, she smiled a little seeing Neji had been the one to do it. She frowned a moment later, though. The beast's tenketsu were so large, she doubted many Hyuuga besides Neji would actually be able to provide the power needed to close them. Indeed, from what she could tell from so far away, Neji had expended a lot of energy to do even that much.

Trying to come up with a plan to coordinate her clan to take the creature down was cut short, as she both felt and saw a change in Naruto's chakra.

"Yosh," he said quietly, standing up and summoning his Keyblade to his hand. Opening his eyes, Hinata held in a gasp again as she witnessed his slightly altered appearance up close for the first time. Naruto turned his head to look at her. "You ready, Hinata?"

Gathering herself, she nodded as firmly as she could. "Hai. D-do we have a p-plan?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the giant in the distance and tightened his hold on the mysterious weapon. "First, I'm gonna throw the biggest _**Rasenshuriken**_ I can make at the back of its neck, dattebayo. Beyond that?" He turned and gave her a wry grin. "We'll just have to do what we apparently do best." When he didn't extrapolate, she asked him what that was. He held out his left hand for her to take and said, "Work together."

Her heart thudded in her chest, but she felt stronger for it. Taking his hand, she nodded. "Hai!"

Looking down at the battlefield, they vanished together, dashing away at high speeds.

 **(~HJN~)**

 **Aaaaaand, cliffhanger! Damn, I'm good at those. This one was actually a double-cliffhanger, there's a suspenseful pause before intense/important action waiting on both story routes!**

 **Something I wanted to go over real quick: the little narrative blurbs at the beginning of every other chapter for this story. They have significance for the grand scheme of things. They'll be showing up on odd-numbered chapters, and will give you hints towards what is really going on and why things are changing. Feel free to shoot your theories and predictions at me, I love reading that kind of stuff!**

 **Kairi is a bit of a minx, isn't she? Yeah, they're teenagers, that'll happen. Again, the connection they have is going to be a key piece in the game when everything starts really kicking off.**

 **Also, can we all just take a moment to freak out, yet again, at the 2017 Orchestral Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer we got recently? How about how D23- and yet another new trailer- is right around the corner?! Aaaaahhhhh!**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the update, those 20-or-so people who actually read this, LOL.**

 **OH! AND IF YOU'RE GONNA POST A REVIEW WITH A QUESTION OR A LORE DISAGREEMENT, LOG THE FUCK IN PLEASE. I can't STAND how many Guest reviews I get with some question or some statement about how I got something wrong. AND USUALLY IT'S THEM THAT IS WRONG. Seriously, just sign in so I can answer your questions/argue with you/correct you like your third grade teacher.**

 **Ja ne~**


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